James Maddison hasn’t helped England career: Leicester City news

James Maddison hasn’t exactly hurried along the likelihood of a senior England cap – which will eventually occur – due to a rather ill-advised casino trip.

You’d have to be fairly strict and sanctimonious to instruct people how to spend their free time away from work, as long as the pastime is legal of course. It’s perceived slightly differently for people in the public eye, due to scrutiny from the media.

For example: you wouldn’t expect to see an MP down the pub before Prime Minister’s question time – yet some probably do drink on the job. Another profession heavily analyzed for the sake of anything negative, and occasionally positive, that can be appraised from a scenario, is the Premier League footballer.

Therefore James Maddison must be under no illusions – as a seemingly bright as well as certainly talented young man – as to why his casino trip on Friday night was questioned as imprudent or ill-advised. Normally people wouldn’t be too interested unless a player or celebrity was staggering out of the place paralytic at 3am.

However, as the Leicester City man was reportedly pictured at the gambling establishment – thanks to The Sun – his England squad mates were simultaneously losing to Czech Republic. Following a disappointing performance to say the absolute least. Not to mention Maddison supposedly being relieved from duty due to an illness – which still hasn’t been explained by the Three Lions or the Foxes or himself.

Maddison’s decision-making

Regardless of it being his own time away from the game, some people – ironically some accusatory sports journalists among them – believe Maddison should be avoiding any possibility of bad press. Most dedicated pros, it must be said, would have probably watched the game quietly and had an early night – especially if they were ill or had recently need poorly. Despite it being the boring option, longevity for elite athletes is short so much be measured.

To be fair to Maddison he was released from the England camp by manager Gareth Southgate in case he was contagious – which leads us to understand it was a flu-like virus of some sort. Additionally, the Leicester No.10 left over 24 hours before the Czech clash, and was entitled to judge his own recovery and ability to enjoy his life.

Although, Southgate is somewhat of an old fashioned, not a disciplinarian, but teacher-type, certainly. And therefore Maddison has most likely gravely underestimated the consequences to his chances of gaining a senior cap soon, or, possibly, being a focal point of the country’s plans at Euro 2020. Which the former Norwich midfielder should be – in an ideal world, through his obvious quality.

Southgate on Leicester City star

The England boss expects players to be diligent and honest with a level of professionalism that basically excludes you from this type of questioning or misunderstanding. In fact the international boss and his captain, Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane, spoke on the issue.:

"“Well, once a player has been released from the squad, then it’s up to them how they spend their individual time.“So, I guess what James [Maddison] has learned is that if you have an involvement with England, then there’s an increased spotlight on you and increased interest in your personal and private life as well. So, that goes with the territory, it’s a high-profile position.”– Gareth Southgate"

This writer expects Southgate was unimpressed at having to speak of the matter, especially while preparing for Monday’s very significant Bulgaria contest.

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Afterwards, Kane also addressed the ‘incident’:

"“He [Maddison] was ill. He got sent home. He did what he did. It’s not the end of the world, but I think it is something that he will learn from. Knowing he has a higher profile now. He has been doing fantastically well for his club.”– Harry KaneBoth quotes via LCFC Live"

Reading into that, the striker, who will have Southgate’s ear, suggests maturity to his team-mate. Kane knows Maddison can do the business on the pitch and doesn’t want him derailed in anyway.

There are much worse things Madders could be caught doing with his spare time than a bit of poker. Foxes of Leicester will leave that to your imagination rather than listing fictional salacious goings on – yet he should take this advice: keep your head down, mate. You’re more than good enough to start and impress for England so keep doing what you do on the pitch. But don’t give the media an excuse to affect you’re chances of fulfilling your potential. Hopefully Southgate will judge it not particularly serious and the debut won’t be prolonged indefinitely.