James Maddison response hints at bonus Newcastle would…

James Maddison response hints at bonus Newcastle would get if not put off by Leicester source

Leicester City will do all they can to keep James Maddison if Newcastle United return with another offer in 2023.

Maddison is approaching the final 18 months of his contract with the bottom of the table Foxes and there has been no breakthrough as of yet on a new deal. However, despite recently announcing huge financial losses, Leicester would loathe to lose another key player after selling defender Wesley Fofana to Chelsea.

A senior source at Leicester previously stressed to ChronicleLive that the 'manager [Brendan Rodgers] made our position clear - he's not for sale' after Newcastle had two bids turned down for the 25-year-old. Given the form Maddison is in, though, and Leicester's predicament, you just wonder whether Newcastle may test that stance once again in January or, indeed, next summer.

At a time when Newcastle are lacking X-Factor without the injured Allan Saint-Maximin, Maddison has three goals and an assist to his name despite Leicester's struggles. To put that return into perspective, Maddison has been directly involved in nearly half (44%) of the Foxes' goals this season.

Off the field, too, Maddison ticks a number of boxes at a time when Howe is desperate not to disrupt the spirit of the dressing room with the wrong type of characters. Selfish targets have been as good as discounted as a result - no matter how gifted they are.

Maddison has previously made headlines for the wrong reasons, whether it was being pictured out in a casino days after being sent home by England because he was ill in 2019 or being one of three Leicester players dropped over a breach of coronavirus regulations in 2021. However, Maddison became a father for the first time last year and Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers recently commented on 'seeing him change in life'.

Interestingly, after Leicester's 6-2 defeat against Spurs last time out, it was Maddison who fronted up after the game. The Leicester talisman spoke of how it was 'painful and it hurts when you see a manager who you have a lot of respect for' get so much 'heat and so much negativity when, ultimately, we're the players out there'.

Perhaps, the response that said everything about Maddison's character, though, was when he was asked by Sky Sports about being left out of the England squad for the UEFA Nations League games against Italy and Germany. Maddison simply replied: "The England stuff is not at the forefront of my mind at the minute when we're sat bottom of the league."

That is just the sort of personality Howe wants to work with: a player who thinks of the team first and themselves second.

James Maddison response hints at bonus Newcastle would get if not put off by Leicester source

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