BRENDAN RODGERS revealed James Maddison was “full of the joys of the world” when he finally discovered he was going to the world cup with England …. at the second attempt.
The red-hot Leicester City midfielder gate-crashed Southgate’s squad at the 11th hour, three years after his one and only Three Lions’ cap as a sub in a 7-0 drubbing of Montenegro.
Yet incredibly, Rodgers revealed Maddison initially missed the most important call of his career as he failed to pick up Southgate’s call, telling him he was on the plane for Qatar.
Rodgers revealed: “He had a missed call from Gareth just before we were ready to go training,
“I told him to go into my office so that he could talk privately – and he came out full of the joys of the world.