Maddison left out of england squad

James Maddison was left out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad for this month’s internationals against Italy and Germany – with the World Cup just a couple of months away.

Southgate has claimed England do not produce playmakers in comments which will not please James Maddison.

Southgate was asked about the qualities of Germany’s Joshua Kimmich and the way he dictates games and said England do not have anyone similar.

England boss Southgate said: “In terms of the profile of players, we cannot buy somebody, we cannot generate somebody – we have got to make the most of the players that we have. That’s what we try to do – we try to find different ways of building from the back to allow us that lack of a playmaking pivot, if you like.

“At the moment, we don’t have that sort of player in this country. I don’t think we develop that sort of players well through youth football and through academies. Other countries probably have a little bit more focus on that.

“So we have players with other excellent attributes and we try to get the most out of that, and that’s what we did with Declan and Kalvin in particular in the summer. Jude is a different sort of profile for that.

“He is somebody who can gallop forward and take the game to the opponent in a different way. Yes, you’ve got to get the best out of the attributes of the players you have got.”

Southgate has been criticised for not selecting Maddison. The 25-year-old has not played for England since making his debut in 2019, despite consistently performing for Leicester. He’s scored three goals and produced one assist in the Premier League this term.

Maddison was also superb for Leicester last season, scoring 18 goals and providing 12 assists in all competitions. England, meanwhile, haven’t scored a goal in open play in a competitive game since their 10-win against San Marino last November.

England’s only goal since then was a Harry Kane penalty in a 1-1 draw against Germany three months ago. Southgate’s side are in the middle of a nightmare run of form – losing 4-0 at home to Hungary in June and suffering a 1-0 defeat to Italy in Milan on Friday night.– Mirror.