Mohamed Salah has become a role model to many of the brightest young wingers in world football. Among those to have learned from the Egyptian is Noni Madueke, and the 22-year-old is beginning to show Chelsea fans what he is all about.
"I look at the best," Madueke explained while on England Under-21s duty last year. "James Ryder, our analyst, clipped up (Kylian) Mbappe and Salah, so I watch them a lot. The way they always follow their pass into the box, or when a team-mate is in the box, they’re always there to anticipate.
"One thing I’ve got to add to my game is the easier goals, the one-touch goals - that’s what I’m trying to improve."
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The guidance provided by Salah, regardless of whether he knew he was providing it, is set to pay dividends for his former club Chelsea. Madueke's quest to add goals to his game came to fruition on Sunday afternoon when he rattled in a 14-minute hat-trick in a 6-2 win over Wolves.
All three strikes followed a similar pattern. The first saw Madueke, playing wide on the right, take his shot early and benefit from a deflection off Rayan Ait-Nouri. He put the second through Jose Sa's legs after being played in by Cole Palmer, and secured the match ball by firing in at the near post on his weaker right foot.
At the start of only his second full season in the English top flight, Madueke has succeeded where Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka have so far failed by bagging a Premier League hat-trick.
While he won't be rattling in triples every game, the signs during the opening weeks of the new campaign suggest that Sunday's performance will not be a one off. Madueke was a live wire during Chelsea's pre-season preparations and can consider himself unlucky to have been an unused substitute against Manchester City last weekend.
The wide man netted within 20 minutes of coming off the bench against Servette in a Europa Conference League play-off on Thursday as he thrives under the new management of Enzo Maresca.
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Chelsea went forward with freedom and purpose at Molineux, punishing Wolves to devastating effect. Despite Maresca boasting hundreds of millions of pounds worth of attacking talent, Madueke is making a convincing case to be a consistent name on the manager's team sheet almost two years after signing from PSV Eindhoven in a £29million deal.
Buoyed by the videos of Salah he has studied, as well as the creativity of Palmer playing alongside him, Madueke has had an awakening and Chelsea are ready to reap the benefits.
