England manager Gareth Southgate has explained his surprise decision to call Leicester City star James Maddison up to his squad for the upcoming World Cup.
The 25-year-old has long been an impressive performer in his time in the Premier League with Leicester, though until this World Cup he had just one England cap to show for it, which came all the way back in 2019.
Today, though, Maddison has been confirmed as being on his way to Qatar with Southgate and co. for the biggest tournament in world football, which kicks off in just over a week now.
It seems Southgate could not ignore Maddison’s fine form any longer, with England fans bound to be delighted that he’s now being given this opportunity to shine on the biggest stage.
Discussing why he finally changed his mind on Maddison, Southgate said, as quoted by Nizaar Kinsella of the Evening Standard: “He’s playing really well. He is a good player, we’ve always said he was a good player. He has earned the right and we feel he can offer us something a different to what we’ve got.
“He is playing as well as any of the attacking players in this country.”
It will be interesting to see if Maddison can now work his way into the England starting line up, or if he’ll have to make do with a place on the bench.