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.”
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.
Sheesh, why shouldn’t Maddison get mad? These guys don’t get much tome off top be with family in the summer (yes, I know they get paid a lot). But, why shouldn’t he go home and be with his family?
What a load of old tosh from Neville. Southgate will pick whomever he thinks will be best for his squad. It’s not as if Neville has some special insight. For all we know, Southgate may have told players they should go, so he could focus on those in the final cut.
If you were working somewhere and the boss said you wern’t needed, you wouldn’t hang around to watch them work. These team mates are not his friends he dosnt know any of them, so his allegiance is to his family.
I think that when you are informed that you are out when Gallagher the chicken with no head is in its time to leave the room . The same as Dunk and Gomez being in and Branthwaite out , really quite pathetic
Neville shows why he had such a long career for club and country above others with equal abilities on the field. Attitude.
If I was Maddison I would have done the same, in fact I’d have been away on a great holiday with his family as if you remember you don’t get much time off nowadays, before your back for training and you can watch the England games on the TV. So we’ll done James enjoy your break, in fact don’t listen to media talk.