James Maddison has revealed he 'studied' Bruno Fernandes when the midfielder was in excellent form for Manchester United.
Fernandes signed for United from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020 and he made an immediate impact following his arrival in Manchester. He was talismanic and won the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award for two successive campaigns
The midfielder contributed 40 goals and 25 assists across his first season-and-a-half at the club and that was the period in which Leicester's Maddison, who made the England squad for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, studied what he was doing well.
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Maddison has recorded better statistics than Fernandes and the majority of his England teammates this season and he opened up about his form on Wednesday afternoon, admitting that he analyses other players in his spare time.
“A couple of seasons ago, when I wasn’t in the England squad, Bruno Fernandes was playing very well for Manchester United and putting up ridiculous numbers in terms of goals and assists,” Maddison said at the press conference.
“So I probably watched him a bit closer at that time. How is he scoring so many goals? What runs is he making that I’m not? If that makes me a student of the game, then that’s what I am. I watch every game. My house is football mad.
"My girlfriend goes crazy because I watch so much. During the lockdown, when there were four games a day, I had them all on. I don’t think that there is a player now that I model my game on - maybe when I was younger.
"I appreciate all the good players in the Premier League. I try and take something from each of the players I watch, whether they are a higher level, the same level or lower. If I’m watching a game on TV, I’m often watching players in my position.
“I’m a football man. I’ve said that many times. Because I just love the game. In my head, I’m still that little boy who is kicking the ball around in the garden on or with [England] face paint on.”
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