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Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde says £30m Chelsea star is one of the best he’s ever faced

Charles Jones

Tue 29 October 2024 16:15, UK

Alejandro Balde may only be 21 years old, but he’s played against some of the best players in world football.

The Spaniard has faced the likes of Vinicius Jr, Nico Williams and Serge Gnabry dur𒐪ing his time at Barcelona.

Speaking to ESPN, Balde has been asked to name the three toughest opponents he has ever faced, and he gave somethin👍g of 🐲an interesting answer.

Balde named Federico Valverde and Michael Olise as two of the best players he’s ever come up against, while he also gave a special mention to Chelsea’s Noni Madueke, 💙claiming that he really struggled against the🥀 winger when the two faced off at youth level.

Alejandro Balde names Noni Madueke as one of his toughest opponents

The Barcelona star shared his verdict on Madueke.

The full-back says that he reall🍨y rated the Chel𒈔sea attacker, claiming that he is a very good player who has caused him problems in the past.

“Another could be when I was in ൩youth football against Madueke who is at Chelsea now. He’s a good player, I think he was at PSV then and it was another good game,” Balde said.

Noni Madueke has seriously improved

Madueke has always had the p🀅otential to be a great player, as Balde says, he was dynamite at youth level.

However, the man had a slow s🏅tart to life at Chelsea.

Mauricio Pochettino p꧃ublicly called Madueke out last season for his performances, while, at one point, it looked like Chelsea could sell Madueke to Newcastle.

However, th💖e winger has seriously improved this season.

Madueke’s improvement this term has been stark, and hi⛄s good form has been rewarded with an England call-up.

With Thomas Tuchel set to become the new Three Lions boss in 2025, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Maduek♊e at international level.

If Madueke continues to improve at this rate, he could well be an Englan♍d regular before too long.