Former Tottenham winger Peter Taylor has said that he would start James Maddison on the left wing for England at the European Championship if he was in charge of the Three Lions.
While Maddison is guaranteed to be on the plane to Germany, the Tottenham man’s chances of getting a start seem quite slim, particularly given how well Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden have done this season for Real Madrid and Manchester City respectively.
Southgate does have a selection headache and the England boss threw a curve ball in the Euro qualifier against Ukraine back in September of last year by starting Maddison on the left of a front three.
The Tottenham man did not get much joy in that position and it might not be an experiment that Southgate would want to repeat at the Euros.
Should James Maddison play left-wing for England?
However, Taylor believes that the 27-year-old could pose even more of a threat by cutting in from the left than he would centrally.
The 71-year-old said on The Spurs Show: “I’m looking at Maddison now, someone asked me to send the team for the first Euros game, and I actually said I want Maddison in the team, but I want him more wide left rather than in the 10, I think the opposition could stop him as the 10, but then wide left it’s the full-back more than anything.”
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England have many talented attackers, several of whom are much better equipped to play out wide than Maddison is. I do not see why Southgate would want to shoehorn the Tottenham man out wide ahead of the likes of Saka, Grealish, Eze, Bowen or Gordon.