James Maddison is often the centre of attention when it comes to all things Tottenham Hotspur.
Being one of Tottenham’s senior players, their primary creative force alongside Dejan Kulusevski and one of England’s most high-profile players, Maddison is often in the news.
Just recently, Roy Keane blasted Maddison and doubted whether his return from injury would massively benefit Spurs as the Irishman questioned his consistency — with the silky technician going on to aim a dig at the veteran with his bold celebration in a 1-0 win against Manchester United.
The United legend’s controversial comments were agreed with by some, with Simon Jordan calling Maddison a “flaky” player and going out of his way to state that no team will win “anything meaningful” with him in the side.
For James Maddison, such opinions surrounding him would be hurtful considering how much of a success he has been in the Premier League since his time at Leicester City.
But football is a game of a opinions and the 28-year-old will be accustomed to being in the spotlight.
James Maddison says he’d rather get criticised over Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall
What will matter most to the former Leicester midfielder is how Ange Postecoglou and his teammates view him, with Mathys Tel lauding Maddison recently.
The Englishman will perhaps also be motivated to silence his critics, with even Mark Schwarzer taking aim at Maddison’s form at Tottenham.
Maddison was quizzed about how he feels about often being slated by pundits in particular and the Tottenham attacker revealed he would rather take the hits over young players like Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall.
The FA Cup winner told Sky Sports: “Yeah but that’s okay, I’d rather that than them talk about Archie, Lucas, the young lads, I don’t mind taking the heat a little. I’m big enough and ugly enough now to take the hits and take the criticism because I know what I’m capable of, I know what I can do, I know my personal level.”
Previously as well, Maddison lauded Bergvall and Gray’s work ethic after Spurs’ 3-2 against Hoffenheim in the Europa League.
The Lilywhites star also revealed that while it is easy to slate this Tottenham side as a whole, they are working their socks off behind the scenes and are far from happy from the season they have had so far.
“And what people don’t see is what we do behind the scenes and how much we’re trying to improve and how much we work and it’s very cheap to go sit and talk and criticise but in training today, the standard was unbelievable, the lads are working really hard because we drew at home to Bournemouth last week and the lads are not happy. So, they don’t see it hurts us as well, you know when we’re not doing well in the league.”
“But no, I feel good, I pretty sharp, really looking forward to Thursday and beyond, try to finish the season special as a team, try and finish the season strong personally, I can still have a very good season in terms of goals and assists and try to look for the positives and try to spread that through the dressing room instead of focusing on the negatives and the doom and gloom of the league position.”
What Maddison was doing at Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall’s age
Gray and Bergvall drew praise from Pedro Porro as the young duo have impressed at Tottenham this season.
Both players, aged 19 have been thrown into the deep end by starting regularly for a struggling Spurs side and come out with flying colours.
Perhaps one reason why Maddison seems protective of Gray and Bergvall is because when he was at the same age, the Spurs attacker was playing for Coventry City in the Championship instead of playing regular Premier League football.
The fact that Gray and Bergvall look as polished as they do in the English top-flight speaks volumes of the quality and mentality both youngsters possess and they should certainly not be criticised as they have fared excellently in a variety of roles.