In-demand Leicester midfielder Maddison sees knee specialist

James Maddison has seen a specialist after suffering another knee injury on his return from the World Cup, Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers revealed.

Maddison sustained an injury in Leicester’s final Premier League game before Qatar 2022 at West Ham last month, but he was still named in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the tournament.

Only Erling Haaland (21), Harry Kane (14), Ivan Toney (13) and Kevin De Bruyne (12) have bettered Maddison’s tally of 11 goal involvements in the Premier League this term, but he was one of just four unused England outfielders in Qatar.

Having been strongly linked with a January move to Newcastle United, Maddison sat out Leicester’s 3-0 Boxing Day defeat to the Magpies with another injury, which will require specialist treatment.

Speaking at a press conference to preview Friday’s Premier League trip to Liverpool, Rodgers said: “He won’t be available for the game.

“He was with Mark [Waller], our doctor, getting some specialist advice in London. I’ll wait to hear from them later on.

“He hasn’t trained with the squad. He was clearly getting treatment out [in Qatar] and the England medical team deemed him okay to train.

“He was available for games [for England]. He’s come back here, looked to do some work, and then felt a pain in a different part of his knee.”

Leicester produced a dire display in Maddison’s absence against Newcastle, conceding three first-half goals in a home Premier League game for the first time since doing so against Manchester United in September 2003.

The 13th-placed Foxes are four points clear of the Premier League’s bottom three ahead of Friday’s game at Anfield, where they are winless in their past 11 top-flight visits (D2 L9).

We travel to Merseyside on Friday #LIVLEI pic.twitter.com/12z3LA2lPV

— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 28, 2022