India make it 11 on the trot
UP in the players’ room at Wembley Stadium on Thursday night, Gary Maddison was presented with a memento he’d dreamed of getting his hands on for years. His son, James, had just made his senior England debut, becoming player No1,245 for the national team.
And following the 7-0 win over Montenegro, the midfielder couldn’t wait to come good on the promise he’d made his old man a decade or so earlier by handing over his prized first shirt. “I’ll get it signed by all the lads and give it to my dad,” said Maddison, a look of pride and slight disbelief etched across his face.
“He said when I was a little kid, ‘If you ever play for England, I want your shirt’, so I have to give it to him. My family will be very proud.
“Playing for your country is the pinnacle. I’ve had to wait a little bit, been on the bench a few times, been in a few squads, and that’s made it all the more sweet.
“I’ll never forget that feeling when I was waiting to come on – that was a special feeling. I’m going to see my family now and there will be smiles across all of their faces.”
The fact Maddison had to wait a couple of minutes in between stripping down to his kit and coming on as a 64th-minute substitute for Alex Oxlade-chamberlain only added to the sense of occasion for the Leicester
star.and when the final whistle sounded, there was no way he was going to hand over his jersey to the member of Montenegro’s backroom staff who had asked for it.
“You’d have had to fight me to get that off me,” he added, laughing. “As I was waiting to come on, I kind of just took it all in.
“Representing your country is a big thing and obviously it’s hard in the moment to realise what’s going on. But I’m sure once I’m sat in my room and I take a step back and realise I’ve just represented England, the country I grew up in, and that the dream I had as a young boy of representing the Three Lions came true tonight… it’s a special night for me.”
Maddison joined Leicester from Norwich during the 2018World Cup and, 17 months on, he is now a candidate for the next major tournament, Euro 2020.
He said: “You can always dream of playing for England but you’re never quite sure how to gauge how far away you actually are. I’ve come to Leicester and it’s a fantastic club for me, a great platform for me to showcase what I’m about.
“Obviously the manager is keeping a close eye on the
Premier League each week – and as long as I’m doing well at club level, I believe the rest will take care of itself.”
JOSE MOURINHO ordered Manchester United not to spend more than £50million to land Harry Maguire – a year before they eventually signed him for £80m.
Mourinho was keen to land Maguire in the summer of 2018 when talks first started with Leicester. But it’s believed Mourinho told senior officials not to
“embarrass” him by paying above £50m.
I understand United were initially told by Leicester the fee for Maguire was “upwards of £60m”. Knowing that Mourinho felt that was too much, United officials didn’t pursue the deal – but ended up paying a world record fee for the defender a year later.
A club insider revealed: “A move was made for Maguire in the summer of 2018 – with Jose Mourinho’s blessing. But Jose’s interest in signing the player came with a proviso. He said that while Maguire was an excellent player, he wasn’t worth more than £50m. In fact, he said paying more than £50m would embarrass him.the club was armed with that valuation when they spoke to Leicester – who made it clear they would not sell Maguire for less than £60m.the deal was dead before United had made a formal bid – and when it was decided to move a year later, his price had gone up to £80m.”
INDIA thrashed Bangladesh inside three days in the opening Test to inch closer to their 12th successive home series victory.
Table-topping India have now won all six Tests since the
World Championship kicked in, including a 3-0 whitewash against South Africa last month, to record their 11th consecutive Test series victory at home.
India hardly broke a sweat as they triumphed by an innings and 130 runs to go 1-0 up in the twotest series.