‘You have a duty’ – Gary Neville thinks Tottenham star made a big mistake this month

Gary Neville has said that James Maddison should not have left the England squad early after he found out that he would not make the final cut for the Euros.

James Maddison missed out on England’s Euro squad

Maddison had been included in the preliminary 33-man by Gareth Southgate but the England boss decided to leave the Tottenham man out of the final 26-man list that will travel to Germany.

The news came as a surprise as the attacking midfielder had been a key part of the Three Lions set-up for the last couple of years and had played an important role in the qualification to the tournament.

However, with Southgate having an embarrassment of attacking riches at his disposal, it was the Spurs star who ended up missing out.

Maddison subsequently took to social media to admit that he was heartbroken about the news but insisted that he would be cheering his teammates on from home.

Gary Neville says Maddison should have stayed

Neville believes that while the attacking midfielder’s disappointment was understandable, he should have been professional and trained with the squad rather than returning home early.

The pundit said on The Overlap about Maddison: “Why did he leave early? I would have stayed there. The reason I would have stayed would probably have been one, there is an element of duty, ultimately you are in it together and I always have this feeling in football that if you are left out.

“And I’m not having a go at Maddison, and different players deal with it in different ways. But the reason I would have stayed is I used to get really p——- off as a player if someone went mad that they were left out, because what you are saying is the guy that was picked in front of you isn’t good enough, you think are you are better than him.

“Which is fine, don’t get me wrong, confidence is good but at least respect the fact the guy that has gone into the team doesn’t need to hear about your problems, he needs your support. to be professional.

“The reason I would have stayed secondly is, let’s say Foden got injured somehow in that game. I would have wanted to make sure – I think Gareth would have thought I’m going to keep the guy who stayed, I’m not going to pick the guy who has gone home.”

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One can understand where Neville is coming from but at the same time, Maddison is coming off a long and hard season and he might have not had the energy and motivation to continue training with the squad after finding out that he will not be travelling to the Euros.