Danny Murphy has suggested Manchester City to avoid trying to wrap up a transfer for James Maddison in the summer.
The well-known pundit was speaking on talkSPORT, as City were linked with his signature months ago.
If Manchester City re-ignite their interest in James Maddison, it’s safe to say that Danny Murphy does not believe the move would be a success.
Danny Murphy advises Manchester City not to pursue James Maddison transfer
During the Qatar World Cup, Juanmo Lillo, who has been speculated with making a return to the Sky Blues as their assistant coach told The Athletic that he was ‘crazy’ about the England international.
While the 26-year-old went down to the Championship alongside the Leicester City, he proved his worth, with 10 goals and nine assists to his name in the Premier League last season.
Despite Danny Murphy acknowledging that James Maddison is a top player, he does not believe he would be the right fit at Manchester City.
“If I was Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp, I wouldn’t take the risk. Although he has all those wonderful attributes, I have not seen enough of that. That fire in the belly. He’s not tackler, he’s not going to go in for 50/50 tackles.”
Danny Murphy pinpointed how the lack of tenacity that James Maddison has to offer would not work at Manchester City, saying, “And he cares. But I just think when you watch footballers, he’s aesthetically pleasing, he’s technically brilliant and he’ll always make things happen and get people off their seats but does he have the capability of nailing down one position?”
“I’ll give you an example. Bernardo Silva is someone who has these wonderful technical attributes, who can beat players, play great passes, score great goals but you never question his tenacity to win balls back, to press, to run back, hence the fact he played in a central midfield position and they still won the league.”
After assessing whether James Maddison could be as industrious as Manchester City attacker Bernardo Silva, he also cited Sadio Mane as an example, saying, “Can he raise his game to have all those qualities… Mane is a good example. Great qualities going forward but never, ever worry about him doing the physical work and pressing.”
“Can Maddison do that? I’ve not seen it yet. I hope he surprises me. But if I was the top, top teams – that’s why we are talking about Tottenham and Newcastle – because they are not Man City and Liverpool.”
At the end of the day, James Maddison should not be a priority target for the treble-winners, which is the be-all and end-all of the discourse around him potentially joining English football’s dominant force.
