James Maddison opens up on awkward period he wore No71 shirt after joining Tottenham that led to changing room ‘stick’
JAMES MADDISON has revealed he received some light-hearted stick from his Tottenham team-mates over his shirt number.
The England star was given Harry Kane’s No10 shirt following the striker’s move to Bayern Munich.
Prior to that Maddison occupied No71 for the duration of pre-season, leading his Spurs pals to joke he was always waiting for Kane’s departure.
Maddison, 27, said he and Kane joked about the number too and the midfielder revealed he is enjoying the pressure of fulfilling the England captain’s boots.
Asked about taking Kane’s No10 shirt, Maddison told Amazon Prime: “It all happened so quick. Me and H had a bit of banter to be fair. I was wearing No71 in pre-season, I was getting a bit of stick.”
“We wanted to see and weigh up which number I was going to wear, who leaves. There was a bit of banter ‘oh Madders are you waiting for Harry to go?’ in the changing room and I would have stayed 71 believe me, to keep him.
“Harry left on the eve of the first game. The club wanted me to have No10 because it’s such a big number and it’s quite an iconic number for shirt sales and stuff and I’m never going to say no, I love that pressure and I love the No10.”
Maddison had picked up where Kane left off for Tottenham with three goals and five assists in 11 Premier League games before suffering an ankle injury.
He is expected to be sidelined until the new year but he was able to issue a positive update on his recovery.
The former Leicester star added: “It’s healing well, it’s a bit of a slow burner which is obviously frustrating because like you said, I started the season so well. But it’s healing, slowly but surely.”
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Maddison also discussed his love of Harry Potter after interviewer Ben Foster spotted some merchandise on his walls.
The Spurs talisman said: “Massive Harry Potter fan. It was my birthday the other day so (my) missus got me an authentic signed Daniel Radcliffe signature with his wand and nice picture so that’ll go in the games room nicely.
“I’m a little geek when it comes to Harry Potter.”