James Maddison says he was a Man Utd fan and picks out Red Devils icon as Premier League’s greatest player

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Manchester United made a decision in the summer to sign an English attacking midfielder, and many feel the club may have picked the wrong one.

Erik ten Hag splashed out £55 million to sign Mason Mount, who is yet to register a Premier League goal contribution for the club. In doing so, Manchester United passed on James Maddison, who signed for Tottenham at just £40 million.

Maddison, like Mount, is currently injured, however, he made a big impact beforehand. He scored three goals and provided five assists in 11 games, before suffering an injury which could keep him out to the New Year.

The 27-year-old was performing well, winning the Premier League player of the month award in August, and he says in a new interview that he was actually a Manchester United supporter.

Maddison idolised Manchester United icon

Maddison this week conducted an interview with Ben Foster for Amazon Prime, and spoke about his admiration for Manchester United all time record goalscorer Wayne Rooney.

The Tottenham midfielder says he regards Rooney as the best to play in the Premier League.

He said: “All the players growing up that I loved were number 10. I loved Rooney, I was Man United fan growing up.

“I think he’s in the conversation for the greatest Premier League player ever. Genuinely. Them iconic greats, he’s in there.”

Rooney is a Manchester United legend, scoring 253 goals, winning one Champions League, five Premier League titles, one FA Cup, three League Cups, and one Europa League.

He spent a lot of his time overshadowed by others, Cristiano Ronaldo or Robin van Persie, but his importance to the team was right at the top. Maddison’s comments are good to hear, because Rooney does deserve to be regarded among the greats, and sometimes gets overlooked.

Manchester United could do with a player like Rooney in the team right now.

The one shirt Maddison wanted

During the interview Maddison showed his collection of shirts from opposing players, and regards one he was able to collect recently as the greatest ‘get’ of his career, Cristiano Ronaldo‘s shirt.

He said, referring to his time at Leicester City, “I got Cristiano’s shirt when we played them in the Premier League. That’s the favourite I always wanted.”

Ronaldo had two spells in the Premier League with Manchester United, but spent his peak years at Real Madrid, where he became the Spanish club’s all-time record scorer.