James Maddison hopes Leicester City can reach Celtic level under Brendan Rodgers

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The Scottish Premiership champions beat Aberdeen – where the Foxes ace was on loan – 3-0 in the 2016 Scottish League Cup final.

Leicester City defender James Maddison has spoken about Brendan Rodgers’s arrival at the Premier League club, drawing on his prior experiences in the Scottish Premiership as testament to the manager’s exploits at Celtic and what he hopes to see with the Foxes.

Maddison was on loan at Aberdeen when they faced the Hoops in the Scottish League Cup final November 2016, and the Parkhead club put in a strong display as they ran out convincing 3-0 winners at Hampden Park.

With the two individuals’ paths crossing again at the King Power Stadium, the 22-year-old shared how Rodgers and his coaching staff has “reminded” him of that hammering a “couple of times”, albeit in good faith.

Speaking to Sky Sports Soccer Saturday ahead of Saturday’s Premier League meeting between Leicester and Fulham in the East Midlands, Maddison said he was eager to see the Foxes be moulded by Rodgers into a side reminiscent of Celtic and, prior to that, Liverpool under the Northern Irishman.

He said: “On the day, Celtic were just too good for us, but little memories like that, it was a Brendan Rodgers side that we came up against and the quality and intensity was just too good for us on the day. Hopefully we can get to that level where teams are coming off the pitch and saying ‘Leicester were too good for us today’.

“If you look at Brendan Rodgers’ teams of the past – the Liverpool team and the current Celtic team – they’re all very fit, with high-intensity work and lots of pressing without the ball – that’s not saying we haven’t done that before but there has definitely been a rise in the fitness levels just in the short time he has been here already.”

Leicester’s last three permanent managers – Claudio Ranieri, Craig Shakespeare and Claude Puel – all won their opening Premier League home fixture as manager, while Rodgers has won all six of his Premier League meetings with Fulham (BBC Sport).