Manchester City and England winger Jack Grealish poked fun at pal and Leicester City midfielder James Maddison after photos of him on his summer break have emerged.
Despite a strong 2021/22 campaign with the Foxes, Maddison missed out on a call-up to the England squad for this month’s UEFA Nations League ties with Hungary, Germany and Italy, giving him a few extra weeks rest ahead of next season.
Maddison is currently on holiday and on an Instagram post, has shared pictures of himself watching matching cargo shorts and a utility vest, as well as wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap while in his off-season break.
That led to Grealish taking the mick out of the midfielder, suggesting he looks like Australian icon, TV presenter and zookeeper Steve Irwin, who died in 2006 at the age of 44.
In the comments section of the Instagram post, Grealish commented “Naaaaa man said Steve Irwin,” followed by a series of laughing and cry-laughing emojis, with the comment itself getting over 4,000 likes on social media.
Grealish was not the only footballer to poke fun at Maddison, with his former Coventry City teammate and now Kilmarnock defender Chris Stokes also following Grealish’s lead. He commented “Steve Irwin vibes yeh,” followed by an emoji of a crocodile and a picture of the Australian flag.
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Maddison scored 12 goals and added eight assists in the Premier League in his 35 top-flight outings last term, a return rate of goals and assists that was much higher than Grealish in his debut season at Man City, averaging a goal or assist every 123.4 minutes he played in.
Grealish meanwhile only had three goals to his number and the same number of assists in his 26 league outings, averaging a goal or assist in the Premier League every 319.5 minutes, almost three times less frequent than the form of Maddison.
While Grealish did become a Premier League winner for the first time in his career, Leicester playmaker Maddison helped the Foxes to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League and his 20 direct goal contributions smashed his own previous record of 14 for the most he has notched in a top-flight season.
Grealish was left on the bench for England’s most-recent Nations League game on Tuesday night, replacing Chelsea ’s Mason Mount for the final 18 minutes of the Three Lions’ 1-1 draw with Germany in Munich.
When Grealish came on for his 22 nd senior international cap, England came from 1-0 down to nick a late point with Harry Kane scoring from the penalty spot to become the second English player to ever reach 50 international goals.
Grealish will be looking for his first start for his country since March in England’s final two games of the season at Wembley Stadium against Italy on Saturday and in a meeting with Hungary on Tuesday night.
