Newcastle United made two official bids for the transfer of Leicester City star James Maddison this summer, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Writing in his exclusive CaughtOffside column on Substack, the transfer news expert weighed in on Maddison’s current situation, with the Leicester playmaker bizarrely snubbed by England again following Gareth Southgate’s latest squad announcement.
The 25-year-old Foxes ace has been a star performer in the Premier League for some time now, but still has only one England cap to his name, and that was three years ago.
It’s not clear what more Maddison can do to work his way into Southgate’s thinking, and Romano insisted he thinks he’s a top player, though he didn’t express a view on whether or not moving to a big six club would do his international hopes some favours.
In discussing Maddison, however, Romano added that Newcastle made two offers for him in the summer, though obviously both were turned down and he stayed at the King Power Stadium.
“I’ve had a lot of fans messaging me about James Maddison, with questions about if he’s been unlucky to miss out on the England squad again, and if he would be more likely to get in the squad if he played for a big six club,” Romano wrote.
“Gareth Southgate has his own ideas so I can’t say for sure, but personally I consider Maddison a really top player.
“There was interest from Newcastle with two official bids turned down during the summer, but Leicester needed him – then we will see what happens next summer.”