Stewart Robson believes that Liverpool will not sign Leicester midfielder James Maddison due to his defensive attributes.
The ESPN pundit and former Arsenal midfielder questioned the England youth international’s capability to track back and help the Reds should they need to halt any opposition attacks.
Speaking on ESPN, as quoted by the Express, Robson said: “They’ve got three front players that make runs into the box. The midfield players don’t do that quite as much at Liverpool.”
“Maddison is an out-and-out No 10, I don’t know where Stevie said he’s a good defensive player, because that’s his one weakness. I’m not sure he would be able to press the ball and close down like Klopp wants him to.”
The Leicester midfielder had a great breakthrough season at the King Power Stadium, creating the most chances in the Premier League. The 22-year-old scored seven and assisted a further seven goals last season, and quickly utilised his set-piece expertise for the Foxes.
Leicester were reported by Football Insider to have placed a £60million pricetag on Maddison’s head in May, amid interested from the Reds’ Premier League rivals Tottenham.
OPINION
Robson is right, Maddison doesn’t offer much in terms of defensive work rate to his side. But, the 22-year-old wouldn’t be used with that in mind at all. The Leicester playmaker still averaged 1.3 tackles per game last season [WhoScored] a decent effort for a player that is expected to drift into pockets of space and punish the opposition’s defence. Georginio Wijnaldum is one of the more attacking midfield options at Klopp’s disposal, and the Dutch international plays more of a box-to-box role compared to Maddison, who would settle into a totally different role and potentially a new system. The former Norwich man impressively averaged 2.3 shots and 2.8 key passes per game, two stats that blow Wijnaldum out of the water [WhoScored]. It is highly unlikely that Liverpool would make a move for Maddison, but if they did, the last thing on their mind would be his defensive work rate, with Robson ignorant to the 22-year-old’s real strengths.
