James Maddison was the surprise name in England’s 26-man World Cup squad, but Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate insisted he had decided to take him to Qatar "two weeks ago".
The Leicester City midfielder, whose sole cap came in 2019, has been in irresistible form for the Foxes, with only Harry Kane, among Englishmen, having more Premier League goal involvements in 2022; despite his side’s poor form, he has scored 13 goals and assisted nine during the calendar year.
Yet while that has stacked up favourably against his peers, Southgate has previously been reticent to call up the 25-year-old, much to the chagrin of his club manager, Brendan Rodgers.
However, amid growing public clamour, led by the likes of former England star turned Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, Southgate has elected to name Maddison as part of the travelling party for the finals in Qatar.
Following the England squad reveal, Lineker took to Twitter to declare: “Maddison is the best example of forcing yourself into a squad at the very last, by the sheer brilliance of your performances.”
And Southgate himself admits that the player's displays for his club have simply been too good to ignore.
"Look, he’s a good player," said the England boss. "We’ve always said he's a good player. I spoke to James this morning. There was a lot of speculation and we decided a couple of weeks ago he would be in the squad. He was delighted.
"He's playing really well. He's earned the right. We think he can give us something different to the various attacking players we've got.
"At various stages there have been conversations about James. There’s been moments where ahead of the Euros I don’t think he was in contention and (in) September was probably a fair debate.
"But I think he’s playing as well as any of the attacking players in this country.”
There is no space in Southgate’s Qatar selection for Roma striker Tammy Abraham, Brentford frontman Ivan Toney or West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen.
Southgate added that Abraham had missed out due to a “poor run of scoring form at the wrong time” with the start of the tournament just 10 days away.
Manchester City pair Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips were included despite a lack of match fitness, while Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has been named in the squad despite his limited game time. Chelsea's Conor Gallagher made the cut but Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse again just missed out on a major tournament squad.
Southgate continued: "We wanted to make sure we got the balance of the squad right. I think in this day and age the squad is more important than ever.
"Different options for matches and for difference stages of the tournament as well. We've had to cover players who aren't fully fit, but we think the balance is there and we've got cover in the positions we need."
