James Maddison’s recurring England squad omission is becoming a running joke. The 25-year-old is proving every week that he is without a shadow of a doubt, England’s best creative midfielder. The whole country knows it, the Premier League knows it, the players know it.

So why is this fact so foreign to England manager Gareth Southgate?

Just have to break the temporary silence to insist once again that @Madders10 is @England’s most creative midfielder, and surely has to be in the squad for Qatar.

— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) October 3, 2022

It’s as if the former Coventry City & Norwich City midfielder must consider a positional change to right-back to be even in the frame for his country. Judging by the amount Southgate could take on the plane to Qatar this winter, it seems the more plausible route for Maddison.

But that shouldn’t be the case. Gareth Southgate’s stubbornness and blind loyalty to his so called “trusted” lieutenants – players who are barely featuring or performing for their clubs so far this season – is simply becoming his undoing, as recent UEFA Nations League results suggests.

Even a blind man can see that James Maddison deserves a spot in the England camp, and a regular one at that.

Right at this moment, there’s only one English attacking midfielder arguably performing on a similar or better level than Maddison, and that’s Manchester City’s Phil Foden. Both players have 10 league goals, and four assists between them so far this campaign (five goals, two assists each) which means they are both the country’s best performing midfielders right now, but only one of them is gathering all the spotlight – arguably because he plays under Guardiola and for the best team in the land.

Though, Maddison has a strong case to even trump Foden.

The midfielder once again shone in Monday’s 4-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest, scoring two and setting up another to help lift the Foxes off the bottom of the table.

It means Harry Kane is the only other Englishman to have more goal involvements (34) than the 25-year-old in the Premier League since the start of last season (27).

Also, in 2022, James Maddison has had a direct hand in 22 goals. Jadon Sancho, Jack Grealish and Mason Mount combined have played a direct hand in only 19. The proof is in the pudding, but Southgate is ignoring it.

With around five weeks until Southgate names his squad for the World Cup, is Maddison hoping to make a late dash for the plane to Qatar? He certainly believes he can force his way in.

“That is an ambition of mine, it is a goal of mine,” Maddison told Sky Sports. “An opportunity at that level is one I would desire and one I know I would make an impact at.”

The 25-year-old’s only England cap came against Montenegro as a substitute in November 2019. Around that period, the midfielder was controversially pictured in a casino after pulling out of the squad for a Euro 2020 qualification date with Czech Republic, in which Southgate later hinted that his eyes are on others players as a result of his mishap.

Since then, the likes of Jack Grealish, Mason Mount, Phil Foden have been regular picks ahead of Maddison, despite his stunning form for Leicester City.

And the stats below again force the idea that the 25-year-old is far and away England’s best performing attacker bar Harry Kane.

Premier League goal involvements since start of 21-22 season – England players
Player	Games	Goals	Assists	Goals & assists
Harry Kane	45	24	10	34
James Maddison	42	17	10	27
Ivan Toney	41	17	7	24
Bukayo Saka	46	12	11	23
Jarrod Bowen	44	13	10	23
Raheem Sterling	37	16	6	22
Mason Mount	39	11	10	21
Phil Foden	36	14	7	21

Maddison has registered 17 goals and 10 assists in 42 Premier League games since the start of last season – evidently more than Foden, Mount, Bowen, Saka and Grealish.

Some more stats for your trouble, James Maddison has scored more league goals from outside the box (6) than any other player in Europe’s top five divisions in 2022.

Indeed, his 14 goal involvements in his last 11 Premier League appearances going back to 11 May is bettered only by Manchester City’s superstar striker Erling Haaland.

In case you needed reminding, James Maddison is pure class 🎯💪 pic.twitter.com/sFym62fpdr

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 3, 2022

As per FBRef, over the past 365 days, amongst midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues, Maddison ranks in the 99th percentile for goals per 90, assists per 90, non-penalty goals per 90, xG per 90 and ranks in the 98th percentile of midfielders for shot-creating actions, 99th percentile for goal creating actions and also in the 95th percentile for key passes per 90. He also ranks in the 96th percentile for progressive passes received meaning that he is the player Leicester always look to pass to in order to create clear goal-scoring opportunities.

What gives these numbers such impressive reading is that it is all coming playing for a side who have been well-below par this calendar year. The rumoured £50m man is basically keeping Brendan Rodgers in the Leicester City hotseat, and it is a credit to his character, desire and ability that he has taken such creative responsibilities especially when the going has gotten tough.

“It has been a weird position because we have been bottom of the league but I have been as confident as I have ever been,” Maddison continued. “I don’t remember over the past 12 months playing better and feeling better.

“I am not naive, I know there are top, top players in the forward areas but I have a self-belief I am a top player and can be in that category.

“I have to force my way in because the players at the big clubs are in and they are top. I think there could be a space for me, so I will keep working hard.”

It’s not only Maddison’s impressive stats that warrant him a spot on the plane to Qatar but his wonderful qualities in possession and in the final third. The 25-year-old is a player that can take games by the scruff of the neck. Also, his classy craft from direct free-kicks and set-pieces, a player capable of the extraordinary from distance as well as delivering balls right on the money for his teammates.

James Maddison, that is INSANE! 🔥🔥🔥

Those replays 🤤 pic.twitter.com/zVf5snGUNB

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 3, 2022

He’s a smooth and meticulous operator, a player who works at his game, who takes responsibility for his role and thinks about the technical and tactical elements; his positioning, where to be to hurt the opposition, the team shape, organisation and the constant scanning of the pitch, being aware of where his teammates are, concepts in which he can be fluent. Concepts which make him one of the Premier League’s most decorated creators.

England’s problem for much of the past year, is looking to control games and taking the game to the opposition – being proactive rather than passive, then reactive. The latter was their problem throughout the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy with players shirking away from responsibility on the ball, and not being brave enough to play their way through an Italy side who were there to be got at. Possessing a player of Maddison’s ilk and composure in the final third immediately addresses that deficiency.

The need for Maddison’s inclusion is made more urgent by Gareth Southgate’s admission that his squad does not possess an obvious No 10 who plays the position for his club. Certainly, Maddison has largely been deployed on the right side of the attack for Rodgers, but it’s his great understanding of his position, the ability to come inside and operate between the lines, working in tandem with his full-back whilst picking up dangerous pockets to hurt opposition defences that arguably propels him above the rest.

Maddison can play all three slots behind the striker (RW, 10 & LW) to a high level. Plus he’s regularly pulling out goals & assists due to his own individual brilliance in a team which has been far from tactically perfect. Both factors make him the ideal tournament squad member.

— Premier League Panel (@PremLeaguePanel) October 3, 2022

His vision and ability to split defences is a huge asset, particularly given the kind of direct attacks from which Leicester – and Vardy/Daka in particular – are extremely dangerous. He adopts effective positions between the lines and can deliver accurate passes that split opposing defences, for forward runners to chase.

When he is on the ball, the Leicester attackers know they need to be on the move. His stunning performance against Forest also included a Luka Modric homage, picking out Jamie Vardy with a raking pass in his own half that led directly to the second goal buried by Harvey Barnes. It’s that level of ingenuity, invention and imagination that Leicester are thriving off and that England so desperately need right now.

So, after all this explanation and revealing of evidence as to why Maddison deserves an England spot, what is actually Gareth Southgate’s issue? Is it that can he can’t find a place in his XI for Maddison? Because he doesn’t track back? Is it a punishment for past mistakes in his squad?

If he's not on the plane it's embarrassing

— Darren Bent (@DarrenBent) October 3, 2022

Southgate recently gave the admission that he picks players on form, but that certainly wasn’t the case in his latest England squad for last months internationals. It’s high-time he goes back to his word, because his future as manager depends on it in Qatar. If England are to change course from their current form this winter, Southgate will need to place his trust in players currently performing consistently, and there’s no better case for a spot on the plane right now than James Maddison’s.

Ajax winger Antony’s career continues to go from strength to strength.

Since his move to the Dutch giants from Sao Paulo in 2020, he has become a key figure in Erik ten Hag’s Amsterdam revolution, picking up his second Dutch Eredivisie title as well as exciting fans on the European stage in the UEFA Champions League stage.

12 goals and ten assists in just over 2,500 minutes of first team football suggests that the 21-year-old has played a big part in Ajax’s success, and has also catapulted himself to become one of Europe’s finest and most exciting wingers.

Now several reports are emerging that he could well follow Ten Hag out the Ajax exit door and on to greener pastures in the North West of England, potentially plying his trade under the Dutchman at his new club Manchester United.

If there’s one thing for certain, the young Brazilian wizard is ready for the next step in his fledgling career. A move to Old Trafford certainly won’t be too overly-ambitious for him, he could become the catalyst for change, transformation and improvement at a fallen giant.

The newly-capped Brazil international now looks likely to be a part of his nation’s World Cup squad too, after playing in Brazil’s last seven qualifying fixtures off the bench, including scoring against Venezuela and Paraguay. 

This all came after Antony was part of Brazil’s gold medal-winning team at the Tokyo Olympics. 

Who is Antony?

Home to 700,000 people, Osasco – a city in Brazil’s Greater São Paulo region – shares a similar population density to Tokyo and New York City. Its motto, ‘Urbs labor’, literally translates from Latin as ‘work city’. 

It is the place AFC Ajax’s Antony Matheus dos Santos calls home and more importantly, it’s the place of his birth.

Eryck Gomes’ 2020 interview with the Brazilian youngster in The Guardian outlined just how difficult Antony’s upbringing was.

He recounts rubbing shoulders with drug runners and witnessing police raids, as well as borrowing football boots from the shoe shop his mother worked at – an entirely different life to the sheltered academy education of his European peers.

At age 12, he joined the São Paulo setup, where he would sign his first senior contract in September 2018.

It was later that year playing in Copiñha, a football tournament for all youth teams in the São Paulo area, that he truly emerged as a precocious and gifted footballing talent.

120 clubs, thousands of players took part, and yet Antony stood out emerging as Player of the Tournament, scoring four goals and registering six assists on the way to São Paulo securing the title.

His four goals crucially came in the final two outings of the competition, including a hat-trick against Guaraní in the last four.

Antony is immensely grateful to São Paulo head coach Fernando Diniz for believing in his natural ability and affording him the freedom to play his game and to express himself – something he is regularly showcasing with his current employers.

Ultimately, it was that belief and promise that earned him move to Europe and a route to the upper-echelons of world football which he will undoubtedly overcome.

Last year, both Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea entertained the prospect of signing him, but Ajax so decorated in locating top-tier talents swooped, sealing a deal for the 20-year-old in February 2020, signing a five-year deal for an initial £13 million, which could rise to £18.2 million.

What’s so good about Antony? What will he offer Manchester United?

First of all, the Brazilian attacker is a true magician, wizard whatever you want to call him. He is imaginative, inventive and exceptionally courageous.

Not afraid to attempt to the most audacious of attacking actions in the final third, and more times than most, he’s perfectly capable of producing the outrageous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaJ1QtCPPiw

Antony is an incredibly intelligent footballer. Looking at him on first glance, you’d almost mistake him for a one-trick pony winger, but he possesses such stunning understanding and tactical awareness in his game, and much of that is down to the meticulous and praiseworthy coaching he has been receiving at Ajax.

The foundations of Ten Hag’s build-up are very solid, free-flowing and really quite conventional. But where the value lies, is not only how Ajax are able to progress the ball and begin to create, but how they can utilise well-coached movements and problem solving to adapt against various opposition shapes.

In terms of ball progression, the keys, once in settled possession, are: opening up passing lanes to exploit, having time and space to make the pass and lastly, allowing the receiver to consistently receive in an optimal manner.

When Ajax form their conventional build-up structure, the fullbacks tend to drop into a narrower position. To oppose this, the wingers move wider to open a diagonal lane.

This means the wingers (who are typically inverted) such as Tadic and Antony can receive in a consistent manner, back to touchline providing them the full view and width of the pitch so they can create freely and move into areas (in half-spaces) where they feel they can affect attacking phases of play and hurt the opposition.

Antony & Mazraoui (now at Bayern Munich) shared a strong relationship on the right-flank, with the full-back knowing when to leave the winger in a 1v1 situation against the opposition.

Within Ten Hag’s system in Amsterdam, every player held the confidence in themselves and in their teammates when creating chances, and that was proved in how each component worked in tandem to disrupt a deep opposition block.

Possessing a player of Antony’s qualities will be incredibly useful at Old Trafford, seeing as he is not only an effective out-an-out winger, but an extroadinary creative force via his wand of a left-boot and his ability to link-up effectively with his teammates.

The forward registered eight goals and four assists in the Dutch top-flight last term, building up from his nine goals and eight assists the season before last.

The Red Devils lack a left-footed out-an-out attacker, especially in comparison to their other top six counterparts (Saka, Salah, Kulusevski, Mahrez, Havertz), and Antony is the perfect component to address that rather strange conundrum at Old Trafford. It is no wonder why much of their attacking play since Mason Greenwood’s suspension has looked rather unbalanced and lacking the required panache.

Like Raphinha who left Leeds United this summer, Antony is just at good creating and forming chances out of nothing than he is scoring them, a unique weapon and surely one which Ten Hag will be looking to add to dramatically improve United’s attacking play next season.

Ajax under Ten Hag often played so the Brazilian can receive 1v1 in a deep and wide position. His distribution from here is excellent – particularly his in-swinging crosses. He also enjoys being in a 1v1 scenario regardless of whether Mazraoui is overlapping or standing off.

Antony’s signing from São Paulo was hailed as a repeat of the David Neres transfer some years earlier, but in practice, the Brazilian magician is more comparable to the recently departed Hakim Ziyech. 

Antony took to life excellently at Ajax, and has his gifted left foot to thank.

Much of the time, he enjoys hanging wide on the right – as instructed by Ten Hag – so he can gain momentum after picking up the ball by driving inwards. His acceleration from a standing start is explosive; his elite balance and lower body strength allows him to remain on his feet even under heavy pressure – he is a worker with great endeavour, and attacking class.

During his time Brazil, the forward relied on moments of ingenuity to create openings, and while there are still aspects of that in his game, he’s now performing with more maturity,  and sensibility, while retaining that endearing unpredictable streak – an aspect of his game that has proven so crucial to Ajax’s game since his move from Brazil.

It is perhaps misleading to describe him as unstable and uncontrollable at times, when one of Antony’s most prominent moves has delivered goals on multiple occasions already for the Dutch giants. When he gets on to that left foot, in the half space just outside the penalty box, he loves to bend in floated crosses to the far post.

His command over the ball is masterful, the swing of his leg and shaping of his body illustrative of well-cultured muscle memory.

It is a very useful tool to have against sides intent on packing their own defensive third and congesting central areas.

For a player of such stature and speed, it would be easy to assume he is obsessed with the by-line. But his relative one-footedness – 41 of his first 45 shots in the Eredivisie were taken with his left – means he much prefers to check back inside. 

Most of the time, he sticks to the byline, to gain a greater perspective of his surroundings, providing him with the ample opportunity to affect the play with great regularity.

Blessed with mesmerizing skill and trickery, and a wonderful first touch but also possessing the knack of knocking the ball forward and bursting past full-backs with consummate ease means he is indeed one of the most exciting and captivating forward on the continent.

When he is in the mood, defenders just don’t know how to stop him, or halt his progress when trying to create openings. At times, his markers are better served fouling him so he can’t be as effective as he can be. His ability to evade tight spots with stunning footwork and deceptive movements makes him a very difficult outlet to halt.

In the Champions League last season, he was certainly the player Ajax heavily relied on to create openings out of nothing. In fact, for some metrics he ranked amongst the best in the competition. He ranked joint-tenth for passes into the penalty area (18), joint-tenth for crosses (23) and joint-second with the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski for goal-creating actions (10). In fact, he ranked first in the competition for goal-creating actions per90 (1.57) showcasing just how crucial he was for Ajax in the final third.

His underlying numbers over the past year make for tremendous reading, again showing that he is amongst the most effective and decisive wingers within Europe’s top five leagues. He ranks in the top 1% of attackers/wingers for goal-creating actions per90 (1.57) and in the top 12% for shot creating actions (4.55). His defensive numbers are outstanding too, a true testament to his all-round game and the high-intensity counter-pressing style incorporated from Ten Hag. Antony ranks in the top 15% for tackles in the attacking third (0.47), in the top 3% for interceptions (1.88) and in the top 9% for tackles + interceptions per 90 minutes (3.45).

Antony has been decisive in his early days at Ajax, outperforming his expected goals and posting incredible dribbling numbers – astoundingly high in both volume and success rate. While his hot finishing streak may cool, it is largely underpinned by well-placed shots from range under little pressure. 

While he has somewhat dialled back the speculative shooting – par for the course in South America – Antony still attempts a fair portion of his shots from less-than-efficient areas, which is another similarity with the departed Ziyech. This is underpinned by his inherent confidence in his ability, though: his shots in general are well-refined, powerful and testament to strong technique.

Closer to goal, he is yet again very decisive, which frustrates and encourages. With better decision-making, he could easily be a 15-20 goal-a-season attacker. In a more transition-oriented team, he could be devastating too. Five of his first seven Ajax goals were scored on the break or shortly following a turnover in possession. He is a very good player to possess in a reactionary sense.

What does the future hold for the Brazilian?

Antony’s adaptation to the Netherlands has caught everybody by surprise.

There is indeed no telling where he could end up next in the future, but there’s no doubt that if he does indeed follow Ten Hag to Old Trafford soon enough, then he’d indeed be a player they incredibly need meaning he will more than likely make an immediate impact under a manager he knows so well.

The Premier League isn’t for the faint-hearted, that’s for sure so it could take Antony some getting used to, especially within a team that is trying to find it’s identity again, which means that a move for the Brazilian there represents a big risk. Though, it’s one Ten Hag will be incredibly brave in making.

Don’t be surprised to see the forward continue in Amsterdam for one more season, with the World Cup in the horizon in November. More game time, and an even better campaign for Ajax means a pivotal berth in the Brazilian setup.

In Richarlison, Tite already employs a hard-working wide forward in his Brazil team – Antony has the potential to be just as arduously effective in an attacking sense.

As with most Ajax players under the age of 25, the Johan Cruijff Arena will not be the last stop on the Antony Express. Slotting into elite European competition without skipping a beat is a sure-fire way of alerting Europe’s financially well-endowed sporting directors. 

Hakim Ziyech left Amsterdam at 27 years old for €40 million, but quite easily could have departed at various points in previous years. Clubs may not be as hesitant with Antony; it would be no surprise to see him leave for a similar figure, and certainly before he reaches the Moroccan’s age.

One things for certain, this is a player with a big future in his hands and the club who snaps him up next could well possess a player ready to become one of Europe’s most decorated assets, if he isn’t already.