James Maddison finally breaks silence on Leicester City's relegation amid rumours over his future

Leicester City star James Maddison has broken his silence on the Foxes' relegation from the Premier League with the attacking midfielder one of the club's most consistent performers this campaign.

Leicester scored a whopping 51 goals in their 38 matches, more than any other side in the bottom half of the table, but it was their defence that cost them, conceding 68 times.

Maddison contributed 10 of those goals while assisting another nine with the Englishman a strong contender for the club's Player of the Season award with the ceremony cancelled amid their battle to stay in the top flight.

Having won the Premier League title in 2016 and the FA Cup in 2021, the Foxes' relegation would have been incredibly unpredictable at the beginning of the season with the East Midlands outfit Europa Conference League semi-finalists just a year ago.

However, Dean Smith's side's relegation was confirmed last weekend when Everton secured a 1-0 victory at home to Bournemouth, despite Leicester beating West Ham United 2-1 at the King Power Stadium.

Now, Maddison has taken to Instagram to share his thoughts almost a week on from the club's relegation to the Championship was confirmed.

"Absolutely devastated to be relegated from the Premier League," the 26-year-old wrote. "I've took a bit of time to reflect on the outcome of the season and to be honest it doesn't make it any easier at all.

"This will hurt for a very long time and probably stick with us all forever. But that's life & it's about how you bounce back from setbacks & failure and unfortunately that's exactly what this season was...a failure.

James Maddison could not help Leicester City survive. (Image: Alamy)

"We should never have been in the position we were, with the players we have. But we take responsibility for that & the negativity that comes with it & continue to stick together."

The Englishman was included in Gareth Southgate's Three Lions squad for the upcoming European Championship qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.

Additionally, it is largely expected that Maddison will depart Leicester this summer following their relegation with Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle all linked with a potential move for the attacking midfielder.

Topics: Leicester City, James Maddison, Premier League, EFL Championship

Dan Hargraves

Dan is a freelance sports journalist currently in his final year studying Football Journalism at the University of Derby. Currently working for SPORTBible and Reach PLC, he has also worked for Snack Media amongst others. His proudest work thus far came at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games where he was a live blogger for the Commonwealth Games Federation, providing sports coverage on the tournament's official website to over a billion people.

@danjhargraves