‘He can hold the ball,create chances as well as distributing passes,He is the reason why Arsenal has not fallen yet’: Sam Allardyce says Arsenal have a midfielder who is way more reliable than James Maddison – Not Ødegaard

Since joining Tottenham, James Maddison has been nothing short of spectacular.

Since joining Spurs, the England international has undoubtedly been the finest player in the Premier League, but some of the flaws he experienced at Leicester City are now beginning to surface.

Indeed, Maddison suffered an ankle injury against Chelsea on Monday, and he appears to have been dealing with it for some time.

Maddison might be out for a while now, and on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Sam Allardyce discussed some of the challenges that come with buying a player who is prone to injury.

Allardyce believes that someone like Declan Rice is a more solid purchase since he is capable of playing 35 to 40 games every season, whereas you never know how much you’ll get out of Maddison.

Rice is more dependable than Maddison.
Allardyce weighed in on the stars of the two north London teams.

“Didn’t he (Maddison) have the same problems at Leicester?” He didn’t cost much, so he was worth the risk, but when you have a guy like Declan Rice, who is Mr 35 or Mr 40 games, those are the ones you acquire first,” Allardyce explained.

Best abilities

As much as we admire Maddison as a player, we must admit that his injury concerns have plagued him for a long time.

As we all know, the finest ability in football is availability, and while Maddison may be a game changer, he’s useless if he’s on the bench.

We can only hope that his injury problems will go away, but it appears like he will be one of these guys who is plagued by them in the next years.