James Maddison: Better than Messi and Hazard, why isn't Europe's most creative player in the England squad?

Playing as a number 10, he has shown the technical skill, awareness and set-piece precision that surely warrants a place in this squad but Southgate disagrees

Eden Hazard has created 74 chances this season, and Lionel Messi has created 76, but at the very top of the tree, the most creative player in Europe’s top five leagues this season is an Englishman: James Maddison of Leicester City.

Maddison has created 81 goalscoring chances this season, putting him joint top with Atalanta’s Alejandro Gomez and Lyon’s Memphis Depay. It is a remarkable record, especially given that unlike Hazard, Messi and the rest, this is Maddison’s first ever season at this level. He only made his Premier League debut seven months ago.

Since then, Maddison has impressed for Leicester City, first under Claude Puel and now under new manager Brendan Rodgers. Playing mostly as a number 10, he has shown the technical skill, awareness and set-piece precision he has had ever since he first broke into the Coventry City team at the age of 17. And having learned his trade at Coventry, Norwich City and Aberdeen, he has an unfussy physicality that many players his age lack.

Maddison’s progress at Leicester saw him rewarded with promotion into the senior squad last October, for England’s Nations League group games in Croatia and Spain. Along with Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho, he added a youthful feel to Southgate’s group.

And yet five months on, with England preparing their squad for their forthcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Montenegro, the start of a new cycle, Maddison is not in the group. Instead he is with Aidy Boothroyd’s England Under-21 squad for their home friendlies against Poland and Germany, preparation for the European Under-21 Championships in Italy in June.

Even though there are absences among England’s preferred attacking midfielders, with Jesse Lingard out injured and Harry Winks not fit enough to be in the squad either. Even then, Maddison still did not make the cut.

So Gareth Southgate was asked about this at his press briefing at St George’s Park on Wednesday afternoon, after the squad list was announced. "I think there are others in the attacking positions ahead of him,” he said.

Southgate pointed to the fact that Maddison has mainly played as a 10 in a 4-2-3-1 for Leicester. England did not use a 10 in their 3-5-2 and they do not now either in their 4-3-3. Meaning that Maddison would have to play deeper to get a game.

“I think he’s a number 10 and, at the moment, we’ve not been playing with a 10. In the 10 position we’ve also got Dele [Alli] and Raheem [Sterling], Marcus [Rashford], Jesse [Lingard], although Jesse is not available this time. So I think he’s in with a really strong under-21 group, but at the moment I think that others are ahead of him.”

But Maddison has proven that he can play deeper than a no10 role, earlier in his career and even in Leicester’s game against Fulham earlier this week, when he moved into a central midfield role in a 4-4-2. And in those midfield roles Southgate has picked players who are struggling for a look-in at their clubs: Fabian Delph, eight league starts all season, none since he was sent off on Boxing Day, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who has started one league game all season.

All Maddison can do is continue to work hard and impress for the U21s and Leicester, but his new manager Brendan Rodgers has no doubt that he will.

“England have a whole raft of good players but I have no doubt he will improve as a player,” Rodgers said on Thursday. “He has the last pass you don’t see a lot of midfield players. He is a huge talent and he can play forward very quickly because he has vision in his game. We want to add intensity and goalscoring to help him. He is a wonderful player and he has made great strides. I see a lot of potential and he is willing to work on his game."