James Maddison knows what he did was wrong, asserts Brendan Rodgers.
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Brendan Rodgers has defended his playmaker James Maddison but admitted that midfielder 'knows he made a mistake' after he was spotted in a casino during the break. The midfielder pulled out after falling sick but has recovered enough to potentially start for Leicester City in the Premier League.
James Maddison was called up by Gareth Southgate for England’s Euro 2020 qualification fixtures against Bulgaria and the Czech Republic but he pulled out of the squad due to flu and was later pictured in a Leicester Casino prompting to controversy. The 22-year-old midfielder was seen in the casino during the second half of the match between England and the Czech Republic, which ended with a 2-1 loss to Southgate’s men. However despite that Brendan Rodgers went on to defend Maddison’s character even though the former Liverpool boss admitted that he knows the player made a mistake.
“They're totally false. I have seen in the last few months various stories around his arrogance, around his mentality - I'm not sure where the stories are coming from, but it's not what this boy's about. He's a very talented player, he has a belief in his ability. He is a wonderful personality on the field and he's actually a really, really good boy off it,” said Rodgers to the BBC.
The Leicester number 10 is yet to make an appearance for the Three Lions even though he has been selected in the squad on as many as three different occasions. The former Norwich midfielder has been in sensational form for Foxes this season and is one of the league's top creators also scoring three goals for the King Power Stadium side. The former Celtic boss went on to say that Maddison was told to go home after England’s medical staff discovered he had flu.
“The kid went away with the international team, he took ill whilst he was away. He wanted to stay, and hopefully be ready for the second game, but the England medical staff - and you can understand it, he's got flu - they don't want it to spread to his team-mates. They decide that it's best for him to to to leave the camp, so he leaves. He gets some tablets with our guys here at the club. He feels better,” said Rodgers.
The 46-year-old manager added that Maddison watched the first half of the game at his home and then probably went to the casino to watch the second half. James Maddison is one of the most trusted players of Brendan Rodgers since Rodgers took over as manager of Leicester.
“He watches the game at home on his own on the Friday and he then goes out at half-time. Probably he'll make better decisions in his life, but he went to a casino on his own, to sit and watch the second half by a poker table. Now the suggestions are he left England purposely and then goes to casino - it's totally not the case at all. But his eyes have been opened to the wider world now in terms of what he did. He knows in hindsight that he's made a mistake,” concluded Rodgers.
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