Harry Redknapp is a big fan of James Maddison but insisted that he cannot see the Tottenham man breaking into England’s starting eleven for the European Championship.
Maddison had an outstanding start to the season after his switch to Spurs last summer and was arguably the best player in the Premier League during the first three months of the campaign.
The midfielder forced himself into Gareth Southgate’s starting eleven for the Euro qualifiers against Ukraine in September and the friendly against Australia at Wembley in October.
However, the 27-year-old subsequently suffered an ankle injury that put him out of action for almost three months and while he has looked extremely bright since returning to fitness, Redknapp believes that others might have now moved ahead of the former Leicester man in Southgate’s pecking order.
Maddison may not start for England this summer
The former Tottenham manager said that he does expect Maddison to be on the plane to Germany but he insisted that he cannot see the midfielder making the starting eleven.
Redknapp told BetVictor: “James Maddison is certainly the type of player who could get back to his previous level before his injury and go on to have a big impact for England this summer, but the problem is, I don’t think Gareth Southgate will pick him.
“I don’t think he’s really Gareth’s cup of tea. It’s funny, you get players like that with Gareth – Jack Grealish was never really Gareth’s cup of tea either… Grealish only really got into the England team by public demand in the end. People wanted him in there, as before he’d got into the squad but Gareth didn’t really play him. I don’t see Maddison getting into Gareth’s team at the Euros this summer.
“I do like Maddison as a player, I love him. I actually saw him play when he was at Coventry, when he was 18 or 19. I said to the manager of Coventry, ‘Who’s that? What a player he is!’ I was managing at QPR at the time and I told a few people in the Premier League about him, but no one was bothered at that time… He ended up going to Norwich, I saw him there and spoke to James and said, ‘you should be playing in a top-six team’ – so I’m a big fan of his.
“But will Gareth fancy him this summer? Where will he play him? Where does he get into the team? With the likes of Phil Foden ahead of him… He might make the squad, but I do really like him as a player.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Maddison would have stood a decent chance of sealing his place in the England starting eleven had he not got injured but he might now struggle to get into the side, given the kind of form Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham have been in this season.