James Maddison has described the fallout from his infamous casino visit in 2019 as “ridiculous” and insisted his England career did not stall as a result of a breakdown in relations with manager Gareth Southgate.
The Leicester City midfielder was pictured by a poker table in a casino on the night England lost to the Czech Republic in October 2019, a match for which Maddison was called-up for only to leave the squad having contracted flu three days before the game.
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Maddison was selected again in November that year, making his debut as a second-half substitute against Montenegro, but did not feature in another England squad for three years until being named in Southgate’s 26-man squad for the World Cup finals in Qatar.
Asked about how the incident impacted his international prospects, Maddison said: “I thought that might get brought up and I’m actually glad you asked because people forget I was actually capped by Gareth Southgate and called up after the casino incident and it wasn’t a big deal at the time for Gareth.
