One Chelsea star stood out in open training to stake claim to be first Enzo Maresca undroppable

It was hard to take too much from Chelsea’s open training session at Stanford University earlier in the week. It was a light session, as to be expected, just over 24 hours before their first pre-season game against Wrexham.

It was a scorching hot day in California – and I was stood in the shade. It was one of those very few days where you felt very little envy towards the professional footballers.

A large chunk of the session was taken up by one particular drill. In said drill, the ball would start with the goalkeeper, who would play it out to one of the centre-backs, who would then look for options ahead of him. Eventually, one of the wide attackers would have the ball and either shoot or look for a pass in the final third.

It was the first look we had at seeing how Enzo Maresca would set his team up while in possession. The right-back, either Reece James or Malo Gusto, would tuck in and become essentially another central midfielder. The defence would then be a three-back, with a box-like midfield ahead of them.

The wingers would stay wide in the build-up but when the ball gets into a dangerous position, they would then tuck in and look to cut inside. Noni Madueke was one of the wingers during the drill – and he looked mightily impressive.

We have seen enough of Madueke by now to know what he wants to do. The 22-year-old loves cutting in on his favoured left foot from the right-hand side. It can be quite predictable for defenders but he is usually very difficult to stop because of his turn of pace and tricky dribbling.

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That was the case at the open training session at the impressive Stanford campus. Madueke was clinical in front of goal. Every time you looked up, you could see the former PSV Eindhoven winger ruthlessly dispatching the ball into the back of the net from that right side.

It was a highly impressive display from Madueke, albeit in a training session. But for us journalists, who usually do not get to see what happens behind the scenes, it was very interesting to see the sort of killer mentality Madueke had in the session.

Unfortunately he was not able to have the same impact 24 hours later as Chelsea drew with Wrexham at the Levi’s Stadium. However, it is set to be a really important pre-season for Madueke, whose future looked uncertain earlier in the summer.

At one point, it looked as if Chelsea were going to sign Michael Olise from Crystal Palace, which would have been bad news for Madueke. Olise, though, has since joined Bayern Munich after the Blues pulled out of negotiations.

There are many in the Chelsea fan base that still have high hopes for Madueke but there is an overriding feeling that the upcoming season is a massive one for the winger. It is his second full campaign at Stamford Bridge and it is one where he really needs to kick on.

There was an improvement last term, particularly in the latter stages. But as of right now, it looks as if he is the first-choice on the right wing – so he needs to absolutely nail down that role within the squad and that will come with adding more goals and assists to his game.