EXCLUSIVE: Noni Madueke reveals he got his self-confidence from his Nigerian father in heart-warming story of his childhood and rise to football success.

 NoNI Madueke reveals he got his self-confidence from his Nigerian dad, while telling the story of his childhood, and his rise to football success. 

Chelsea star, Noni Madueke has disclosed in an interview, the source of his self-confidence. Recall, Chelsea had signed Madueke from PSV Eindhoven in the just concluded transfer window. While he's yet to get more playing time, Noni Madueke has clearly impressed with the few minutes given him to perform. Worthy of mention is his mentality and self-confidence in his interviews at a young age. The Chelsea starlet has never stopped speaking of how much he will come good for Chelsea, with goals, and his ambition to win big for the club. 

That determination to succeed certainly seems to have served Madueke well during his early career and later as he forged his own path through the professional game which has now brought him to Stamford Bridge.

In the winger’s opinion, it is something he has always possessed, and he considers it an essential attribute for anyone who wants to compete at the highest level. He told Chelsea's Official website:

‘I think it comes from my dad, he’s exactly like me in that sense,’ he explained. ‘If he sets his mind to do something, it’s going to happen, so I feel like I got that from him.

‘For me it helps me a lot, but I feel like all the top players have it. You need to be humble, of course, but also a good type of confidence to know that you’re good enough. I feel like you need that to be able to confidently show all your ability.’

Madueke also revealed his family is a 'Chelsea one' as they've got members who are clearly Chelsea fans:

"I’ve got two Chelsea fans in my family,’ he explained. ‘My little sister – her middle name’s Chelsea – and my brother, so it’s a Chelsea house. There’s three Chelsea fans now, because of me as well!’

He caught the football bug early on, idolising a young Cristiano Ronaldo and dreaming of starring in the Premier League just like him, leaving Noni with only one thing on his mind and giving us an early glimpse of the confidence and determination he feels was so important.

‘I knew I wanted to be a footballer when I was six or seven. I think it just came from being a kid and falling in love with the game of football, and then recognising that you’re actually good at it. As soon as I found out that it could be a job I was like “Bob’s you’re uncle, that’s me”!

Madueke also threw some background story on his early start to his football career. Joao Felix at Cobham

It was then, as he was moving through the age groups, edging closer to the make-or-break period when players go full-time at 16 with things becoming more serious and professional every year, that belief became certainty.

‘I think I realised I could be a professional footballer between the ages of 13 and 16. Before that, I had a lot of belief in myself so I was telling myself every day I’m going to be a football player, but at around 13 to 16 I feel is the age when you start thinking “am I really good enough?”. It starts getting a bit more real.

‘At the really young age groups all the top players are scoring six or seven goals a game and you look at someone else and you may be better than him at that time, but then in six to 18 months’ time he’s way better than you. So I feel like you can’t really gauge it at that age, but when you get to about 14, 15, 16, then you can start thinking “I might have a shot here”.

‘When I was about 15 or 16, that was it, I knew I’d be a professional footballer. I just thought it was impossible that I would not be a professional footballer! A lot of it’s a gut feeling. You’re probably the best player, even playing a year up against older players, and I was playing for England, so that’s probably when I thought “I can do this”.

‘But it’s not as simple as A, B, C. A lot of people playing for top academies, playing for England, don’t make the jump. But I knew I’d make the jump just because of my mentality. I wouldn’t allow myself not to.’

As he continues to settle into life in west London after returning to the capital in January, Chelsea supporters will no doubt get to see that confidence and ability on display at the Bridge.