Peter Schmeichel says Tottenham Hotspur’s summer signing James Maddison ‘really upset me’ during his days at Leicester City.
Things might be rosy in the garden now for James Maddison at Tottenham, but it wasn’t so long ago that he was taking verbal pelters at Leicester City.
He played a part in the Midlands side dropping to the Championship, with Peter Schmeichel claiming that the playmaker was ‘on the floor all the time’ and ‘stagnated’ as a player, as he told Premier League Productions.
Yes, the attacking numbers were there from Leicester. James Maddison scored the goals and so did the team. But, from a defensive aspect, they were abject.
The team only managed two clean sheets during the second half of their relegation campaign, with James Maddison on the bench for both matches.
That’s why the England international frustrated Peter Schmeichel, who would watch the Foxes on a regular basis because his son, Kasper, was playing for the club.
James Maddison from Leicester to Tottenham
“I think Ange is the right manager,” said Schmeichel. “He plays a style of football that really really suits Maddison.
“But there are requirements. You have to work hard. There is no luxury player in this team.
“When he first came to Leicester, I thought he was one of the best young players I had ever seen. He was so good, then at some point, it stagnated. He became somebody you got a little bit cross with. He wasn’t really working for the team. On the floor all the time. Diving. Stuff that really upset me, in terms of what he needed to do for the team.
“With this football club, which is bigger than Leicester. The manager and the requirements. I think he has got a much better chance to fulfil that enormous potential that he has.”
James Maddison’s early season form
Tottenham fans have been screaming as to why they didn’t bring in the England star well before this summer.
Ever since Christian Eriksen left, they were crying out for a player like Maddison.
Yet it’s a shame he joins during the summer Harry Kane leaves for Bayern Munich because Spurs would have been even more lethal with their club-record goalscorer in their ranks – Tim Sherwood thinks Postecoglou would win the title if he had Kane.
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