Tottenham star James Maddison has heaped praise onto England teammate Declan Rice, praising his quality and admitting it’s frustrating that he plays for Spurs’ north London rivals Arsenal.
Rice moved from West Ham to Arsenal in one of the most high-profile moves of the summer, while Maddison also made the switch from Leicester City to Tottenham in what has proved to be a great deal.
When England compete at Euro 2024 in the summer, it will be players like Maddison and Rice that make Gareth Southgate’s side one of the favourites for the tournament, and one imagines they’d relish the chance to link up together at club level as well, not that that looks at all likely now.
It’s not often we see players move between Arsenal and Tottenham, and those that have made the move did not make life easy on themselves, with Sol Campbell in particular receiving awful abuse from Spurs supporters for years after he crossed the divide.
No wonder Maddison has therefore made it clear how frustrated he is that Rice plays for Arsenal, but at least he can still appreciate his quality when they get together with England.
“Yeah, (he’s got everything),” Maddison told Amazon Prime, as quoted by the Metro. “He’s technically really, really good.
“We do passing for England in training. He is a joke when it comes to low-cut passes, zingers. I think he’s a top, top player.
“I hate that he plays for Arsenal.”