STEVEN Pressley has revealed James Maddison, who scored a stunning last-minute winner for Aberdeen against Rangers on Sunday, was on the verge of signing for Arsenal or Liverpool last year before he suffered a serious injury.
And Pressley has backed the youngster, who he handed his debut in senior football to at the age of just 17 when he was the manager at Coventry City, to make it in the Barclays Premier League in England in the future.
Maddison netted a long-range free-kick in the Ladbrokes Premiership match at Pittodrie on Sunday to ensure Derek McInnes’s side beat Mark Warburton’s team 2-1 and moved up to second spot in the league table.
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His sensational effort, which was screened live across the United Kingdom by Sky Sports, came as no surprise to former Rangers, Hearts, Celtic and Scotland centre half Pressley who worked with the prodigiously talented midfielder during his time in charge at Carrow Road.
“It’s what James is capable of,” he said. “He was one of those players who was always staying behind at training to work his technical skills, free-kicks being one of them. It’s something he’s more than capable of doing. But he’s developed that ability through persistence and practice.
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“He was 16 when I joined Coventry, but he was a player who we identified very early on as being a very special talent who had a big future. We worked very hard with him. He had to endure washing our cars, finding out what it took to be a successful player, to make your way in the world.
“But he was a young lad with a degree of belief about himself. He isn’t arrogant, but he has a confidence in his abilities. He comes from a good family and has very supportive parents. He is just a really good kid. I am delighted to see him beginning to do so well at Aberdeen.”
Maddison was signed by Norwich City, who were an English top flight club at the time, back in February for a fee believed to be in the region of £2 million before being loaned back to home town club Coventry for the second half of the season by his new manager Alex Neil.
He played for Norwich in a 6-1 win over Coventry in the Capital One Cup last month. However, he sensed his first team opportunities would be limited with Wes Hoolahan, Steven Naismith and Alex Pritchard all in the squad and jumped at the opportunity to move to Aberdeen on loan for the first half of the 2016/17 campaign in order to develop further as a player.
“That is James for you,” said Pressley. “He is a player who wants to play every week. The majority of top players like to play in every minute of every game. James is very much like that. He wants to play, he wants to win.”
The 19-year-old only made his first team debut for Aberdeen earlier this month when he came on as a substitute for the injured Graeme Shinnie in the first half of a Premiership game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Pittodrie.
However, he netted on his first start in a 3-1 win against Dundee at Dens Park a week later and also helped his new club beat St. Johnstone 1-0 at home last Thursday evening and book a place in the semi-final of the Betfred Cup.
“He has already made a big impression at Aberdeen in the short time that he has been there and I think there is a lot more to come from him at Pittodrie this season,” said Pressley. “They have signed a big talent.
“Despite being so young, he can dictate the speed of games. He can adapt to many positions. When I was there we played him in central midfield, as a No.10 and also out wide. He is very versatile. He has a great football brain and can control the speed of a game even though he is very young.
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“There was a lot of interest in him long before he went to Norwich this year. He picked up an unfortunate ankle injury just when a number of clubs were ready to pounce last year. Big clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool were in the advanced stages of recruitment with him. It was quite a bad injury that he got before that January window and he missed out on his move.
“If I had got more time with him at Coventry I would have shaped the team around him. That is the type of player he is. I think he is more than capable of gracing the Premier League in England in the future if he continues to develop the way he has and maintains his levels of commitment and application.”
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