OPINION
West Ham will be kicking themselves over failing to sign playmaker James Maddison on Saturday when they witness how good he is first hand.
The Hammers are set to travel to face the Foxes at the King Power Stadium on Saturday and the 25-year-old sensation will no doubt be part of their starting line-up.
Maddison joined Leicester City from Norwich City in the summer, in a £22million deal according to The Independent, and has impressed in his nine league outings so far.
In his first nine Premier League appearances the playmaker has scored three, while assisting two, and has generally looked like a handful for his opponents.
Yet the Hammers could have very well ended up with him at the London Stadium if they hadn’t made a blunder when scouting him.
The Daily Mirror reported in May that the London club were set to act on their interest in Maddison but no bid was every reported.
However trusted Hammers insider ExWHUemployee when on The West Ham Fan Show on LOVESPORT Radio shared that Hammers scouts deemed the player not good enough to sign after his performance against Chelsea in the FA Cup for Norwich and thought he was too similar to Manuel Lanzini.
“He was one of about five midfielders they were looking at, they looked at Cairney (Tom) of Fulham, they looked at Arter (Harry), Drinkwater (Danny) at Chelsea, there was about five midfielders we were really keen on and Maddison was in that five,” said the insider.
“He was scouted against Chelsea but it was considered his performance wasn’t good enough and with Lanzini as well, it was considered we had a player in a similar mould as him.”
Given that Maddison looks like being a very smart signing for the Foxes and has all the tools to cause the Hammers problems on Saturday when he faces them, then the the London club’s blunder over deeming him not good enough after his performance against the Blues will be magnified.
This will especially be the case as with Lanzini on the sidelines, the Hammers don’t really have a player of a similar mould of Maddison to deploy in Saturday’s clash.
