James Maddison praised for his reaction to England under-21 duty

James Maddison praised for his reaction to England under-21 duty

City midfielder is pushing to be included in the England under-21 squad for this summer's European championships.

Leicester City midfielder James Maddison has been praised for the way he has handled being left out of the England senior team and returning to the under-21s.

The 22-year-old was called into Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Nations League games against Croatia and Spain in October last year following his superb start to his City career in the Premier League.

However, Maddison has dropped back down to the under-21s for their pre-European Championship friendlies against Poland and Germany, who England face tonight in Bournemouth.

Boothroyd said dropping back into the under-21s was a good barometer of Maddison’s attitude.

“It helps when your senior management speak to the players and say: “Look, we want you to get game time and experience. When everyone is fit it is competitive and it is unlikely that everyone can be in the squad,” but they just have to keep going,” he told Talksport after being asked about Maddison’s reaction.

“Actually, it is a great look into their character. When you get left out it is a case of I understand why and I know what I have to do to get back in.

"Anyone who falls short of that standard then we tend to get rid of them because we don’t need to have anyone like that in the system because of the quality that we have got.”

James Maddison battles for the ball with Leicester City team-mate Bartosz Kapustka in England Under-21s draw with Poland Under-21s (Image: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Maddison is joined by three City team-mates; Demarai Gray, Harvey Barnes and Hamza Choudhury, tonight for the clash against the Germans and all of them will be hoping for an opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the squad for the summer’s finals in Italy.

It is the last chance for all four of the City players to feature in a European finals as they will be over age in 2021, when the tournament is hosted by Hungary and Slovenia.

Boothroyd is expecting the Germans to provide a stern test.

“They are the European champions and the best team because they and the Italians have won it the most,” he added.

“Similar to the senior team, we go after getting as many difficult friendlies as we can, different types of friendlies.

“Poland played a 6-3-1 against us at Ashton Gate and now we are playing Germany who are always producing players and they are the benchmark we want to get past, not just beat them in one or two tournaments but consistently be winning things.

“We have to test ourselves against the best and beat the best.”

Source : https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/james-maddison-praised-reaction-england-2686419