James Maddison has seemingly hit out at his England snub by liking a tweet which suggests that Gareth Southgate is not picking players based on form.
Maddison was among the players to miss out when Southgate named his squad for matches against Germany, Hungary and Italy in the Nations League next month. The Leicester City midfielder finished the season in outstanding form to end up with 18 goals and 12 assists across all 53 appearances in all competitions.
The 25-year-old has one cap for England from November 2019 but has been consistently overlooked by Southgate in recent years. Maddison finished his season with four goals and three assists in four games and appears to be frustrated by the most recent snub, judging by his Twitter activity.
After liking a tweet from Leicester congratulating his team-mate James Justin on a first call-up, he also liked a comment from former England striker Darren Bent, which was less than complimentary of Southgate’s selection criteria. Bent wrote : “How is @Madders10 not in the squad, is form no longer important ?”
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Southgate was asked about Maddison’s omission. "He has finished the season very well,” he said . “He is obviously scoring goals but we just feel we are very happy with the players that have been with us.
"He is competing with Mason Mount and Phil Foden and these types of players in the role where he is at his best. It's one of the positions where there is a lot of strength in depth and you may have to leave players out who may be equally as deserving."
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Maddison was far from the only player to be left disappointed by the squad announcement. Tottenham defender Eric Dier was also left out by Southgate, despite some impressive form towards the back end of the season for Spurs. The England boss said Dier was "definitely in our thinking".
Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson was not selected due to the high number of matches he has played this season. Henderson has been included in every Three Lions camp since October 2020, but did not make the 27-man squad this time around.
West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen was the headline selection, while AC Milan’s Fikayo Tomori, Leeds’ Kalvin Phillips and Newcastle ’s Kieran Trippier are also included. England will play Hungary in Budapest on June 4 and Germany in Munich on June 7 before facing Italy at Molineux on June 11 and June 14 respectively.
Squad in full
Goalkeepers: Pickford, Pope, Ramsdale
Defenders: Alexander-Arnold, Coady, Guehi, James, Justin, Maguire, Stones, Tomori, Trippier, Walker, White
Midfielders: Bellingham, Gallagher, Mount, Phillips, Rice, Ward-Prowse
Forwards: Abraham, Bowen, Foden, Grealish, Kane, Saka, Sterling
