Confirmed : Madueke inherits Chelsea shirt number worn by Africa's only Ballon d'Or winner

With a statement on their official website, Chelsea have confirmed the shirt number England U21 international of Nigerian descent Nonso Madueke will wear for the remainder of the 2022-2023 season. 

The exciting winger ended a five-year association with Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven last week after putting pen to paper on a seven-and-a-half-year contract with Chelsea who hold the option to extend his stay by a further year. 

With the number 10 and 23 jerseys he wore at PSV already taken by Christian Pulisic and Conor Gallagher respectively,  Madueke has chosen to wear the number 31 jersey at The Blues. 

The Anglo-Nigerian has never worn number 31 before in his career for club and country. 

George Weah, Africa's only player to win the Ballon d'Or, wore Chelsea's number 31 jersey during his loan spell in the second half of the 1999-2000 season. 

Other players to have worn the number 31 for Chelsea include onetime Nigeria Football Federation target Fikayo Tomori, Malang Sarr, Nathan Baxter, Jamie Cumming, Rob Green, Andreas Christensen, Filipe Oliveira, Marco Ambrosio and Mark Bosnich.

Former Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur youth teamer, Madueke is an U21 player and will not take up a spot on Chelsea's main Premier League roster. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

Photo Credit : chelseafc.com 

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