Sam McGuire has the latest on a career-defining season for James Maddison, with a World Cup spot and big-money move on the line.
Leicester City’s resurgence this season coincides with James Maddison hitting form.
The Foxes have taken 10 points from the last 15 and now find themselves out of the relegation places. Only Newcastle United (13) and Chelsea (11) have had more success during this period. It is not an exaggeration to suggest this run has saved Brendan Rodgers’ job at the King Power.
Maddison has five goal involvements in his last five outings for the Foxes. He missed the 2-0 win over Leeds but started, scored and assisted in the victory over Nottingham Forest while also getting in on the act against Wolves. He also found the back of the net in the 6-2 loss to Spurs.
Only four players have more goals in the Premier League this season. Erling Haaland (17), Harry Kane (10), Aleksandar Mitrovic (9) and Ivan Toney (8) are the only players able to better Maddison’s return of six and the quartet are all strikers.
Furthermore, just six players are responsible for a higher percentage of their team’s goals this season with Maddison being directly responsible for 29% of the 21 goals scored by Leicester.
The one-time Aberdeen loanee is well on target to surpass the 12 goals he managed last season.
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He has stepped up when it looked as though the Foxes would be in a relegation scrap. In previous years it would’ve been Jamie Vardy, but it highlights how the dynamic has shifted for the 2015/16 Premier League champions and how Maddison is maturing as a player and as a leader.
Rumoured to be a transfer target for Spurs and Newcastle United, the former Norwich City playmaker finds himself in a fairly unique situation.
His current deal expires in a little over 18 months’ time and though there were reports in August suggesting a new contract is being worked on, nothing has been signed. He turns 26 in November and while this won’t be his last deal in football, this could well be the last opportunity for him to make the big money.
He could replace 35-year-old Vardy as the poster boy for the project at the King Power, and the club’s highest earner. But Maddison might not want to be a big fish in a relatively small pond, so to speak.
Champions League clubs have shown an interest in him previously and this form won’t be going unnoticed. Newcastle are believed to have retained their interest in the Leicester No. 10 and a January bid could be on the cards if they are still in the hunt for a top-four place.
Click here for the latest Maddison club after January transfer window odds.
A high-profile move could see him finally force his way into the England team, too. His last appearance arrived in 2019 and there has been a lot of talk recently that he should be in contention for a place in the 2022 World Cup squad.
Gareth Southgate opted to leave Maddison out of the squad at the end of last season and explained his reasoning in a press conference: “He [Maddison] has finished the season very well. He is obviously scoring goals but we just feel we are very happy with the players that have been with us.
“He is competing with Mason Mount and Phil Foden and these types of players in the role where he is at his best. It’s one of the positions where there is a lot of strength in depth and you may have to leave players out who may be equally as deserving.”
"I've got to have the mindset that I'll force my way in"
When asked about his England chances recently, Maddison gave a pretty honest response in an interview with Sky Sports: “I'm not naive, I know there's top players in those forward areas. But I have a self-belief and a confidence that I'm a top player and I can be in that category. I've got to have the mindset that I'll force my way in.
“I think there could be a space for me so I'll just keep working hard, producing performances for Leicester and the gaffer here and see where it leaves me.”
Get 7/4 on Maddison to make the England squad for the World Cup 2022.
Southgate’s reasoning last season for excluding Maddison may have been justified. But the England manager might struggle to find a reason to leave out the versatile midfielder this time around.
Mount has no fixed role for Chelsea and he has only just recently found his scoring boots again. He has been deployed all over the place under Graham Potter and has recently found himself as an attacking midfielder. Similarly, Foden, when he does start for the reigning Premier League champions, tends to be used almost exclusively on the left by Pep Guardiola.
By comparison, Maddison is being utilised on the right side by Rodgers.
He hasn’t been glued to the touchline and will drop into central areas as and when he needs to, as evidenced by his heat map courtesy of WhoScored.com.
But what has been impressive is how for a player sometimes criticised for his work rate, he is forever looking to make runs into space to stretch the opposition. He isn’t just after the ball into feet.
In this example against Spurs, he is high and wide on the right and looks to dart into the space behind the left wing-back.
He chests the ball down to a teammate but his movement and willingness to hit that space initially drags the hosts to Leicester's right and creates a one-vs-one opportunity for Patson Daka centrally if the Foxes can get the ball into the area. It is clever, selfless movement.
We see it again in the next example.
Maddison drops deep as Leicester look to build out from the back against Crystal Palace.
The visitors are pressing fairly high and have committed bodies forward, as seen above. The ball is worked out wide to the right-back and as soon as he picks up possession, the Leicester No 10 pivots and attacks the space vacated by the left-back stepping up to press.
Maddison is able to run onto the ball and attempts to play a pass into Daka from an area that Kevin De Bruyne likes to occupy for Manchester City.
There are no English players in the Premier League being used on the right of midfield with more goals than the Leicester man this season.
Maddison also has experience playing in front of a back three, something else famously favoured by the England manager. There is no real justification to exclude the Leicester No. 10 from the World Cup squad on current form.
A World Cup spot up for grabs as well as an improved deal or a big-money move. This season could shape Maddison’s long-term future and ultimately his career.
