James Maddison, the playmaker in the shadows

When you play in quite likely the best and most popular football league in the world, the English Premier League, there is a very good chance that you can play quite well and still not get the spotlight. After all, with so many stars around, that actually makes a lot of sense! And it makes a lot more sense in the case of James Maddison, the rising star of Leicester City.

The case of Leicester City is quite interesting. In an English Premier League season filled with surprise results, surprise positions in the table and a lot of different outcomes that have surprised the vast majority of viewers, the reality is that this Leicester side is not getting a lot of attention when in fact they are having a very remarkable season. They are playing good football, scoring a lot of goals and they have a lot of standout performers, but the prime example of this somewhat underrated nature is certainly their number ten and star player, James Maddison. A player that perhaps gets the most unfair treatment in terms of spotlight in the English Premier League.

In a league where you can enjoy the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne on a regular basis, it is somewhat easy to not put too much attention on James Maddison, but that would be doing the former Norwich City player a disservice as he has been one of the best players of the English Premier League this season and that has been mostly due to the fact that he added a new tool to his skillset: the ability to score.

While James Maddison ended last season with 9 league goals, which is a fairly respectable amount, he already has the same amount of goals halfway through this season and that has been, by his own admission after the recent victory over Chelsea, a result of his own hard work with the coaching staff to improve in that particular regard. That continuous improvement has been the key. And now he is the leading figure of a very exciting Leicester side that plays attacking football. In addition, he has formed a very good partnership with Jamie Vardy, which has paid a lot of dividends for the Foxes so far this season.

Overall, James Maddison has been one of the best players in the league so far this season and he is still somewhat in the shadows, which is a shame because his football and quality deserve a lot more attention. And if people think that the classic number ten is dead, they should watch this league and watch the likes of Jack Grealish, Bruno Fernandes and James Maddison entertaining the world of football on a weekly basis.