Maddison’s instant impact earns him England chance

LEICESTER City midfielder James Maddison has only been in the Premier League for two months, but his impact has been such that he is now being tipped as a missing creative link in Gareth Southgate’s England side. After a £22 million (RM121m) close-season move from Championship side Norwich City, Maddison has played all eight games in the Premier League and the No. 10 is now in line to face Croatia and Spain in England’s Nations League matches. The 21-year-old is unlikely to be overawed. His Premier League debut came at Old Trafford against Manchester United on the televised opening Friday of the season and he left observers purring at his classy display despite Leicester falling to a 2-1 defeat. “There was a moment in the warm-up when the crowd was filling up and it just hit me that this was the Premier League. “You see all these TV cameras around the pitch, which you don’t get at Championship level, and I thought: ‘I’ve worked hard to be here. I deserve to be here. I belong here’,” he told reporters. “I did well on the day and we put in a good performance and maybe could have got more out of the game. “There is no bigger stage than Old Trafford on the opening day of the season, or Friday night. That was a dream I will never forget,” he said. There was certainly no sign of nerves as he showed his creativity and invention up against United’s World Cup winning midfielder Paul Pogba. It was a display that immediately suggested he could be the missing link for Southgate in the role between midfield and attack, where England are not blessed with an abundance of creative talents. While he acknowledges that he is a new face in the England setup, the midfielder will not be a shrinking violet. “You have to come here and be yourself,” he said. “If you come here and act like the new kid or the young lad then I don’t think it will work. “Gareth (Southgate) said to me: ‘Go and show what you are about and why you are here’.” AFP