James Maddison &#8211; CaughtOffside

Chelsea in shock talks for former player to return after collapse of £34.5m transfer

Chelsea’s €40m transfer falls through after major problem finalising contract

Former Everton chief executive drops West Ham points deduction verdict after £110m signings

Watch: James Maddison welcoming Dominic Solanke to Tottenham

Reunited ? pic.twitter.com/NQQXNlEJro

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 10, 2024

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Tottenham star comes under fire for his reaction to Euro 2024 squad snub

Mehdi Gokal — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 22:08:25 +0000

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder James Maddison has come under fire for his decision to leave the England camp following Gareth Southgate’s exclusion of him from the final 26-man squad for Euro 2024.

Maddison was initially named in Southgate’s 33-man provisional squad but did not make the final cut.

He even participated in the preparation phase and played in the friendly match against Bosnia. However, upon learning of his exclusion from the final squad, Maddison opted to leave the camp before the subsequent friendly match against Iceland.

Former Manchester United legend Gary Neville has been particularly vocal about his disapproval of Maddison’s early departure.

Speaking on The Overlap with Wayne Rooney, Neville described Maddison’s decision as unprofessional and disrespectful to his teammates.

He said:

“Why did he leave early? I would have stayed there. The reason I would have stayed would probably have been one, there is an element of duty; ultimately you are in it together, and I always have this feeling in football that if you are left out, you should still support the team.

“And I’m not having a go at Maddison, and different players deal with it in different ways. But the reason I would have stayed is I used to get really p****d off as a player if someone went mad that they were left out because what you are saying is the guy that was picked in front of you isn’t good enough; you think you are better than him.

“You have a duty to be professional. The reason I would have stayed secondly is, let’s say Foden got injured somehow in that game. I would have wanted to make sure – I think Gareth would have thought I’m going to keep the guy who stayed, I’m not going to pick the guy who has gone home.”

James Maddison was left out of the final 26 man squad

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England’s first match in Euro 2024 is against Serbia on Sunday, June 16th, with the kick-off at 8pm BST.

The team is considered one of the favourites to advance far in the tournament. Their initial group includes Slovenia, Serbia, and Denmark.

As the tournament approaches, the focus will remain on how Southgate’s selected squad performs.

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“The fact is” ‐ Gareth Southgate brutally honest on his decision to leave out Grealish from his final England squad

Jake Staniland — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 18:18:04 +0000

In a decision that has sparked significant discussion among England fans and pundits alike, Gareth Southgate has explained his decision for leaving Manchester City star Jack Grealish out of England’s squad for Euro 2024.

Southgate’s final 26-man squad was confirmed ahead of the Three Lions’ final warm-up game against Iceland at Wembley on Friday, trimming down from an initial list of 33 players.

Among the notable absentees from the squad is Jack Grealish, who, despite struggling with fitness and form under Pep Guardiola last season, was widely anticipated to be part of the team heading to Germany. Addressing the media after the squad announcement, Southgate shed light on the difficult decision.

“As I said, the players took the news respectfully,” Southgate began. “Of course, players believe they should be in, and that’s why they are top players; they have self-belief and that mindset. But the fact is we have players who have been playing extremely well all season in the league, and we just feel other players have had stronger seasons, particularly in the last six months or so,” he told the Mirror.

The decision reflects a broader strategy of ensuring that the squad is comprised of players who are in peak condition and can contribute effectively to the team’s efforts in the tournament.

London, England, 22nd June 2021. Gareth Southgate manager of England greets a substituted Jack Grealish of England during the UEFA European Championships match at Wembley Stadium, London. Picture credit should read: David Klein / Sportimage

Gareth Southgate has left out several big names for his final England squad

Grealish is not the only high-profile name left out. Tottenham’s James Maddison, another forward-thinking player, also misses out on the squad. Maddison’s exclusion, like Grealish’s, is rooted in Southgate’s assessment of other players’ recent performances and overall contributions.

Manchester United’s Harry Maguire and Burnley’s James Trafford are also notable omissions. However, the biggest surprise among the seven players cut from the provisional squad is Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite. The young centre-back has had a stellar season with the Merseyside club, leading many to expect his inclusion, especially considering that defense is often seen as the weakest area in the England team.

As the Three Lions prepare for their final preparations against Iceland, the focus will now shift to uniting the selected squad and ensuring they are ready to make a strong impression in Germany.

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Video: Frank Lampard sympathises with Tottenham star having been in his position

Darren Looney — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 14:19:38 +0000

Former England and Chelsea star Frank Lampard has sympathy for James Maddison after the Tottenham star was dropped from the England squad ahead of Euro 2024.

The news broke on Thursday morning that the midfielder will not be going to the Euros in Germany this summer as Gareth Southgate has removed the 27-year-old from his squad.

The Spurs star has had a tough second half to the 2023/24 campaign and the Three Lions boss felt that he didn’t need Maddison over the summer.

That is a position Lampard found himself in ahead of the 2002 World Cup and the Chelsea legend has shown sympathy towards Maddison and has admitted that it would not have been an easy decision for Southgate to make given the midfielder’s talent.

Tottenham’s James Maddison will not be going to the Euros with England

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Watch: Frank Lampard has sympathy for James Maddison after England disappointment

“Maddison is a fantastic player. Gareth Southgate has a good problem that he has to pick a squad to go [to Euro 2024]. It’s not an easy one,” Lampard told Sky Sports.

“I’m a huge fan of Gareth, the competition is difficult. I know that if there is anyone that will deliver that message as well as possible, it will be Gareth.

“I was on the other end of that many years ago when Sven-Göran Eriksson rang me to not go to the World Cup in 2002. I understood it and I respected it, and unfortunately, that is the nature of what it is.”

Frank Lampard shares his thoughts on James Maddison missing out on the England squad for Euro 2024 ? pic.twitter.com/vYcyUk7brT

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) June 6, 2024

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Collymore’s column: EPL must head off Man City threat, Mourinho loves a pound note and more

Stan Collymore — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 10:33:52 +0000

In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including why Man City’s owners must be taken on, why Jose Mourinho loves a pound note more than himself, why Jack Grealish must be picked for England and much more.

—

Man City owners must be taken on for the good of the game

Let’s detach Man City as an old historic football club, with supporters that support a team they would all support, whether they’re in the National League or wherever, from the ownership, who have acted disgracefully to work within rules that they’ve been wildly successful under.

They’ve won trophies including four out of the last five Premier Leagues, so by NO measure whatsoever, have the ownership of Manchester City Football Club, in their attempt to make Manchester City successful, had their job hampered by the rules and regulations.

That’s the first thing.

Other clubs such as Aston Villa, Liverpool and Newcastle all agree to operate within the rules, despite, in the Magpies case, they could spend as much as City or arguably more.

You don’t then turn around and go, ‘we’re going to blow the doors off the whole place, and we’re going to sue you.’ The inference from Man City was that they would have to spend less on the academy and less on youth teams and less on youth development but that’s what every other club has to do.

I think that we’re at the time and the place where the red button, the nuclear button may well need to be pressed. And I would say this if it related to any club, such as Aston Villa, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United, Bournemouth…

If any club is trying to change the material structure of the Premier League to be able to make it a space race ‘free for all,’ then they should be expelled from the league and not come back until they accept the rules as they are.

It’s called a meritocracy and what we all hope and pray for is that when our teams line up on match day one, that we’ve just got a chance of doing something. And this would take away any single remote, lingering hope of any club being able to do what Leicester City did, any club being able to win an FA Cup, any club being able to win a League Cup.

We would have a situation with 40/50 man squads of the best players in the world, whereby one squad plays in the FA Cup, one squad plays in the League Cup, one squad plays in the Premier League, one plays in the Champions League, and you would get quadruples every year.

The reason why these records are breaking is not because these teams are better. It’s because the teams are deeper and better.

And so from my perspective, it’s really simple, the ownership of Manchester City Football Club has to be taken on.

If this was the club I support, Aston Villa, doing what Man City had done over the last 10/12 years, and were now arguing that they will sue the Premier League, I would genuinely, and it’s important to say this, advocate for my own football club to be temporarily kicked out the league until they saw sense.

That’s how serious the situation is.

Grealish brings something different for England and needs to make the cut

Man City star Grealish has to make Euro 2024 squad.

After cutting James Maddison from the England squad this week, Gareth Southgate has a few more decisions to make with the next few days.

There’s rumours that Liverpool duo Jarell Quansah and Curtis Jones will be next to be given the bad news.

In terms of Jack Grealish, he doesn’t now have the bells and the whistles to drive past people in the box, but what he does have is he keeps the ball very well in that left position.

He’s not as incisive but as we saw with Trent’s goal, he picked his head up and dinked the ball over.

Everybody was getting very excited about Eberechi Eze against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but I didn’t think had a good game. I think he ran into roadblocks time after time. Yes, he got the ball, showed pace, dropped his shoulder and did a couple of step overs, but then he lost the ball and we were counter attacked. Against better teams that’s going to hurt.

Therefore, I’ll probably say that those who won’t make the final cut are Maddison, Quansah, Jones, Eze, James Trafford, Adam Wharton and Luke Shaw. That would be my seven.

If player welfare is important, scrap the ‘breaking new markets’ nonsense

Darwin Nunez scored a hat trick on Wednesday and we’re only less than two weeks after the Premier League finished.

Other than for international tournaments, which tend to start mid June – as we’ve seen with the Euros and their equivalent – I think that we need to have a serious look at post-season friendlies and almost ban teams from going because for the amount of money they get (£2m-£5m a pop) I don’t think it’s financially worthwhile.

When people say ‘Oh, we’re breaking new markets,’ no you’re not. You’re just going for a little greedy couple of million pounds payout, which which will go into the coffers.

I think that any games in the domestic leagues, the Champions League and all European football should be done by the end of May. That can be done. The FA Cup could be in the middle or towards the end of May, and then, like what used to happen with teams winning the European Cup, they’d literally get on a flight and go the next Wednesday or the next Saturday.

There should be a moratorium for end of season friendlies and pre-season friendlies. The calendar should stop at a certain point and proper breaks put in.

When there is no mandated European Championship or World Cup tournament, or if you are not included in those squads for those tournaments, you get four to six weeks off. No exceptions, no tours, no nothing.

All of the superfluous tournaments, lucrative games and the Nations League would be scrapped.

Mourinho loves a pound note more than he loves himself

Jose Mourinho unveiled as Fenerbahce manager.

Jose Mourinho is very clever. What he does is that as his managerial abilities wane, his mouth works over time. We know from the ‘Special One’ thing that he’s having himself, but he was winning major trophies with major clubs at the time.

Let’s not beat about the bush, he likes a pound note. He’s getting paid €21m over two years by Fenerbahce, so he’s not going anywhere for other than top, top, top dollar. You have a look at the deals that he signed with Roma and Fenerbahce and with the greatest respect, neither are getting anywhere near the Champions League. They’re not getting anywhere near the Europa League either.

If you’re a chairman and you see Mourinho popping up on Sky Sports or any television channel around Europe to tell you how great he is, you go ‘Brilliant. We’re going to get him,’ and fans will be lining the streets.

The way to judge him though is when he leaves your club and he left Manchester United and Tottenham much worse off, in my opinion. Of course, the revisionists are now saying he was right about United but Mourinho left the dressing room fractured. At Tottenham, he did nothing. The football was turgid.

So watch this space Fenerbahce fans. You’re all getting very giddy and very excited, but let’s see, in two years time, if your thoughts and memories of Jose Mourinho are the same as when he waved the shirt and kissed the badge.

Pardew chase is a surprise because ‘old school’ managers don’t have a place in a modern Premier League

Old school managers have no place in the modern game, although they should because the Premier League should be about different styles and different systems.

Whether it be longer ball versus Pep ball or 4-4-2 versus 4-3-3, most clubs, on the back of a three plus goals per game Premier League season, want a manager now with all the bells and whistles and whose team defend on the halfway line. Who are a guarantee of three or four goals a game, so the clubs can get punters In.

It’s somewhat of a surprise that Alan Pardew would be considered for the Burnley job because I don’t see his of play being conducive to anything exceptional for Burnley as they’re trying to get back into the Premier League.

You look at the clubs that they’re going to be competing with, pretty much most of them are going to be those that can finish at the top. They’re going to be footballing teams.

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Maybe Burnley have identified something and said ‘We’re going to be a bit more industrial. We’re going to be a bit more pragmatic. We’re going to have use old school management to get into them a little bit more,’ and maybe they see something of a Sean Dyche in him, but I just think that what got Burnley out of the championship into the Premier League in the first place was quality on the deck football.

The Sam Allardyce’s, the Neil Warnock’s, the Harry Redknapp’s and the Alan Pardew’s are great at going on podcasts and telling the great tales of yesteryear, but I don’t think in reality, they have the attention to detail or the energy levels that a modern coach has.

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Tottenham star James Maddison left out of England’s Euro 2024 squad

Charlie Patrick — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 22:03:48 +0000

Tottenham Midfielder James Maddison has been left out of Gareth Southgate’s final 26 man squad for Euro 2024.

Maddison had been named in Southgate’s provisional 33 man squad and featured on Monday night against Bosnia and Herzegovina at St James’ Park.

The 27-year-old now won’t play a part in the friendly against Iceland at Wembley on Friday night and has left the training camp.

Maddison not going to Euro 2024

Maddison was part of the England squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar although he didn’t feature as England got knocked out in the quarter finals.

Journalist David Ornstein has confirmed Maddison hasn’t made the final squad and is among those cut from the provisional squad.

Ornstein took to X.com and said:

“EXCL: James Maddison not in final England squad for European Championship.

“27yo Tottenham midfielder made preliminary selection & featured vs Bosnia – but among those cut from Gareth Southgate’s 26-man #Euro2024 group + has left camp.”

? EXCL: James Maddison not in final England squad for European Championship. 27yo Tottenham midfielder made preliminary selection & featured vs Bosnia – but among those cut from Gareth Southgate’s 26-man #Euro2024 group + has left camp @TheAthleticFC #ENG https://t.co/SlIepB6JiX

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) June 5, 2024

Southgate has until 7th June to name a final squad of up to 26 players, with a maximum of six more players set to miss out.

Maddison has got seven England caps and made his first start against Ukraine in March last year.

The former Leicester man started the season well for Spurs before suffering an ankle injury which ruled him out for three months, and he scored four goals and provided nine assists from 28 Premier League appearances.

Whilst Maddison will no doubt be gutted, it’s hard to see how he can have any complaints given he didn’t end the season well, and the emergence of the likes of Cole Palmer have pushed the midfielder down the pecking order.

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England’s first game of the Euros is against Serbia on 16th June before they face Denmark and Slovakia on the 20th and 25th June to round out the group stage.

Southgate will be hoping to go one better having lost the Euro 2020 final to Italy on penalties.

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Merson claims he would axe James Maddison from the England squad

Jason Pettigrove — Wed, 22 May 2024 15:12:17 +0000

Gareth Southgate has announced his provisional England squad for the European Championship in Germany and has certainly surprised a few people with his selections.

Jordan Henderson’s omission could probably have been foreseen, but leaving out Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling was a big call from the manager.

The Three Lions are one of the favourites to win the tournament this time around, after coming close in the last edition against Italy.

Merson would prefer Palace man to replace Maddison

As long as Southgate’s stars don’t get injured in the lead up to the competition, the squad have every chance of winning their first piece of silverware since the 1966 World Cup final.

In any event, Paul Merson has had his say on squad selection and he’s not happy that Tottenham Hotspur ace, James Maddison is likely to get a seat on the plane.

“I am not surprised at the moment because when he (Maddison) is hot, he is hot. You put Eze down there. I would never put him down,” he said on a Sky Sports News debate, cited by We Are Palace.

“He goes (to Germany). For me, out of him and Maddison, he goes to Germany.

“Honestly, he is the X-factor, he is the X-factor. He can do something. Other teams won’t know a lot about him. I don’t know how you stop him. He drops his shoulder like that.”

Whilst Eze might be considered a bit of a ‘wild card,’ one can certainly understand where Merson is coming from, and the way that he and his colleagues have played under Oliver Glasner in the latter part of the season is nothing short of sensational.

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James Maddison admits one thing at Tottenham has “blown him away” this season

Charlie Patrick — Sun, 12 May 2024 15:24:47 +0000

James Maddison admitted he’s been blown away by Tottenham’s support this season following their match against Burnley.

Spurs beat Burnley 2-1 thanks to goals from Pedro Porro and Micky van de Ven which saw the Clarets relegated to the Championship.

The win saw Spurs stop a run of four consecutive Premier League defeats, and they now host title chasing Manchester City on Tuesday evening before finishing their campaign away at relegated Sheffield United.

Maddison blown away by Tottenham support

Maddison arrived in north London from Leicester City in a deal worth £40m and has been one of Ange Postecoglou’s key signings.

The England international was named as the club’s vice captain and had a brilliant start to the season before an ankle injury derailed his progress.

Maddison was sidelined for 13 games and since returning has struggled to have the same impact on the team he was having earlier in the season, and even found himself on the bench in recent games against Arsenal and Chelsea.

The 27-year-old has contributed on the pitch with four goals and eight assists in the Premier League this season.

After the win against Burnley the former Leicester man was quick to thank the fans for their support this season admitting he’d been blown away by it.

Maddison took to X and said:

Thanks for all the support today & for the season. Has blew me away honestly. I’m so happy to be here & play for this club. Let’s finish this season strong & be better off next year for it ? @SpursOfficial pic.twitter.com/yqM5vFZyAA

— James Maddison (@Madders10) May 11, 2024

In a recent interview with Sky Sports Maddison revealed his ambitions were to win trophies with Spurs, which is something that hasn’t been a regular occurrence over the years.

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You get the feeling there is still a lot more to come from Maddison in a Spurs shirt, and fans will be hoping he can help drive the club forward and win silverware.

The midfielder will be hoping his season isn’t over next weekend, and it continues into the summer with a place in Gareth Southgate’s final squad for the Euros in Germany.

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Chelsea vs Tottenham confirmed team news: James Maddison dropped

Darren Looney — Thu, 02 May 2024 17:44:42 +0000

Both Chelsea and Tottenham are looking to keep their European dreams alive on Thursday night as the teams go head-to-head at Stamford Bridge.

This season has been a dreadful one for the Blues as they will go another season trophyless and currently sit ninth in the Premier League table despite the millions they have spent in recent transfer windows.

Mauricio Pochettino’s job is under threat ahead of the 2024/25 campaign but qualifying for Europe may save the Argentine. Chelsea are currently six points from the last Europa League spot and five away from Newcastle, who are in the Europa Conference League place.

A win for the West London club on Thursday would put them in touching distance of the European places and given their winnable run-in fixtures, the Tottenham game is a huge one for Pochettino’s men.

Chelsea drew 2-2 with Aston Villa last time out, producing a second-half comeback to earn a point.

Pochettino has made one change from that game with the injured Thiago Silva being replaced by Alfie Gilchrist.

Confirmed Chelsea starting 11

Your Chelsea side tonight! ?@ParimatchUK | #CFC | #CheTot pic.twitter.com/EdC9vKEVSz

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 2, 2024

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