Mason Mount's hopes of starting for England in their World Cup opener against Iran have been dealt a big boost with the news that James Maddison isn't fit enough to play in the game.
The 25-year-old Leicester midfielder was taken off in the Foxes' last league game before the international break after tweaking his knee. The move was more precautionary than a genuine worry from Brendan Rodgers, but Maddison still isn't deemed ready to play in Qatar.
The game comes just one week after the final round of domestic Premier League matches before the tournament, Mount played 73 minutes against Newcastle in 1-0 defeat for the Blues. Mount is now set to be included from the off for England, football.london understands.
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Maddison's inclusion was almost unavoidable after his stellar form this season - seven goals and four assists in the league - and adds a new option for Gareth Southgate. Mount has only scored twice this season - both in the same game against Aston Villa - and isn't the same surefire attacking option that he was at Euro 2020.
The 23-year-old has had a poor season by his lofty standards and faces serious competition from Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Maddison and Raheem Sterling for the spots next to Harry Kane in attack. Mount can also play in a natural midfield role too, much like Maddison, but Southgate confirmed he isn't ready to play, saying, "In terms of player availability, everybody's available bar James Maddison for tomorrow."
Since last season Maddison has scored 25 times and assisted 16 in all competitions, Mount has 24 goals and 22 assists in the same time. He spoke to TalkSPORT before the tournament and praised Maddison, saying, “There’s massive competition and we know the technical ability we have going forward and being able to combine going forward as a unit is so important.
"Madders has been amazing this season and the goals he’s scored and assists he’s got really help us as a team so it’s brilliant to see him come into the squad again.
“We’re all in this together so we’re a group, we want to be here for a long time so we have to keep working hard together. There’s competition but that sets the level high in training and in games so you’re always at the best level you can be and if that’s as a sub or starting the game you want to give it everything as you know there’s players on the bench that want to come on and make an impact also.”
Kyle Walker will also miss the game after not recovering from his own injury at Manchester City.
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