Manchester United up to sixth with a big win at Wolves | James Maddison on his football career so far

24:01But we may see some of the defending and the carry on there against an average Manchester United team. We know that. Yeah, I think, yeah. Wolves are going down. It's just how much of a fight they put up between now and the end of the season. But they will be playing in the Championship next season. Oh, dear. Tough night for Wolves in what's been a very difficult season so far. It's been a tough one for James Madison as well because he's had a watching brief because of the injury he picked up pre-season. But he's had a lot of time to think, a lot of time to reflect. And James will be talking to us when we come back about some of that.

24:38And we'll be charting the career that started with the young boy Coventry. It's gone on and on and on.

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25:29This is the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. Let's get more analysis of the game and return to the student. What a player, James Madison. And let's put this in context, this career so far, because since James made his Premier League debut in August 2018, he scored more goals from outside the box than any other player Only one has scored more free kicks, James Ward-Prowse. Seventh for assists, fifth for chances created and fourth for chances created from set pieces. So when we see those numbers, we're talking about an elite Premier League footballer. Is that how you see yourself, James? No, I'll be humble enough to say.

26:13It's obviously always awkward when someone peeps so much praise on you to my face. Thank you, kind words. Nice stats, yeah. But let me phrase it slightly differently then, because I think it was a bit clumsy, actually, to be honest. How proud are you when you see those numbers and you see the fact that you are so high in all those categories? No, very proud, yeah. That's years of hard work, and I've always tried to be at a high level when I play. Managed to obviously get to the Premier League, which I was so happy about eight years ago now. Feels like yesterday. Also feels like a lifetime ago.

26:47But no, very proud of the numbers that I've put up over the eight years through Leicester and a couple of years at Tottenham. And yeah, here we are. Plenty more to go, though. Still got many years left. Still only 29. This is a brief respite, sorting yourself out with this injury. And hopefully you'll be back stronger than ever. I have to say, I think this artwork is absolutely fabulous. Charting your career from commentary, Norwich, Leicester, Spurs. and of course, must be really proud to see yourself in the England shirt as well. But let's take you all the way back to the start at Coventry. Now, this was your club signed at six.

27:24Was that when you were spotted? The first trial at six, yeah, just before my seventh birthday. Yeah. And was there from that stage, through every stage you can kind of go through up until the first team. First went into the first team when I was 16, I think, in a matchday squad with Steven Presley, who was my first manager, put me in. I look back at pictures and I just think, wow, I look about 11, I think. We'll show you your first goal, James. You were a slip of a boy. Yeah, you take them ones, don't you? I think we were 3-0 down. It might have even been 3-0 down, 2-0 down or something, I think.

28:01You look 12. Did you feel ready, though, when you were 16? I always felt ready. I always had a self-belief and I always feel like one of my biggest assets, even now and it always has been is kind of the belief I have in myself that even when people are questioning you because they always question you whether you're that big whether you're even established like people always doubt and question and I've always just had a mentality of just having a really strong self-belief that having almost like a high opinion of yourself without it bordering over the line of being like big-headed and arrogant I think that's quite a good mentality to have throughout your career.

28:40Always wanting to prove people wrong, that doubt kind of thing and I had that from a young age and I still have that now. From an early age you were someone who looked like you thrived in big moments, big pressure situations as well. This is Coventry with the threat of relegation against Crawley and here you were.

29:03A lot of people would be firing that one over the bar James. Yeah, do you know what? That was... We could have went down that day. And that was a late goal to almost seal the fact that we weren't going down. I think we were winning the game, maybe. I can't actually remember. Might have been drawing. But that solidified the position in League One. And as a 17, 18-year-old lad who was born and bred in Coventry, grew up a few minutes from the old Highfield Road, that was a very satisfying feeling for me, my family, my friends. But as a slight young man growing up, we were talking about this earlier, did you find that you had to sort of have coping mechanisms when you started playing in men's football against some big guys, particularly when you're dipping into League One as your starting point?

29:52Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I was always, I was a late developer physically, even for people my age. So even when I was 15, 16, and I started training the first team for the first time, I was still one of the small ones in my own age group, let alone going to play with the men. And you just got to find a different way. Me and Kara spoke about it earlier. Different ways, because you said similar, didn't you? When you were a centre-half, you weren't the biggest as well. You just find a way. So I found a way of having to be extra clean technically, touch, use my body and balance well to win free kicks, because I couldn't bow physically at that age.

30:27As I said, I developed probably 18, 19, 20, really late. So there'll probably be dads and kids watching now that are going through the same sort of thing of is he going to be big enough is he going to be strong enough we all develop some at different rates depends whether I'm always thankful to Coventry for sticking with me giving me a scholarship putting me in the first team based on the fact that I wasn't physically there yet because it was so good for my development and I think that's why I would say I'm a technically good player which is why I think all goes all the way back to the start with that of having to be then to be able to cope yeah i i think that's really interesting when we talk about players getting spotted and we talk about scouts and people who spotted this player now it's easy to spot the best player in a game of football you don't need to be a great football brain i think the best skill as a scout is spotting people maybe like your other players who you're almost seeing what he could be in the future maybe you're not the best player at a younger age you talk about technically being good, but the strongest ones are dominating, maybe scoring the most goals, but you see something in a player, and you think he's got something.

31:32He's maybe not standing out here because of his physical attributes, but in the future, when he catches up with anyone, he's going to be a special talent. I think in terms of scouting and looking at players, that's the great art. So then you got your move to Norwich, but you didn't go straight there, you went back to Coventry, and then there was a loan spell at Aberdeen as well. Was that important in terms of your development? The loan at Aberdeen, or just the move to Norwich? The loan at Aberdeen? Yeah, the loan at Aberdeen was very beneficial. That was my first kind of where I felt like... Because, you know, when you're an academy player, you don't always necessarily feel...

32:09Even though you're in the first team and I was starting, Tony Mubry gave me the number 10. I felt like you don't always feel necessarily like a first team player. You almost feel like an academy graduate, in a way. No matter how old you get. I've seen it in other cases as well at other clubs. but that was my first time I'd gone into a dressing room as a sign-in and I felt like I'd obviously done it at Norwich but I went straight out and loaned to Aberdeen in my first pre-season because we had Houlihan, Pritchard, Naismith, established names at the level that were very good but yeah Aberdeen I went in there with Derek McInnes and that was the first time I walked in and I was a sign-in and people were judging me off me and I just felt like I had to prove myself and yeah like I only had the first half of the season there but great memories it It was a great changing room and definitely learnt a lot and it gained valuable experience to then go back to Norwich and kick on, yeah.

33:00And we saw that free kick that was actually against Rangers and this was something that you have become known for. Was it something that you were always good at, that you particularly trained hard for or just had a natural talent at it? Oh, I just used to love Bex. I used to honestly love David Beckham. I've called him Bex like I know him. Like Brian? Sir David. I'm on nickname terms tonight. No, I used to love David Beckham growing up. So I actually used to mimic him in the garden and just really try and even copy his technique to the absolute T. And then as I got older, I kind of made it my own as a way.

33:40I still had a certain few aspects that I thought was when I used to copy Beckham. But yeah, I kind of just, I wouldn't say mastered it, because you never quite fully mastered it, but became... almost like grew a technique which was repeatable and would get good results. I've scored a lot of free kicks in my career. Who else do you... Because I always think... A little bit like, say, goal scorers, you know, the top goal scorers are always fighting for the golden boot. Do you look at other free kick takers and think, who's better than me? Who do you see maybe is better than you on the same level?

34:13There's a few clues there, maybe, James. Yeah. Yeah, I'm very familiar with that stat. I'm very proud of that one. I put a lot of practice in on the training ground and stuff. To answer your question, in this kind of like, in my kind of era of Premier League, I said earlier, every head must bow. James Ward-Prowse is, I think he's just a level, he's in kind of a level of his own. The repeatability, the repetition, the numbers, and even when, he actually hasn't scored one for a while, he hasn't played as much, but you know. He's brilliant. You're counting. I know he's very close to that record. Are you confident you're going to get in third position?

34:54Four more. Yeah, yeah. Joint third would be three more. I would like to back myself and think I've got the ability and I still want to play for many more years. I've still got so much left in me. I'm so hungry to get back and chase stuff like that. As long as I can nudge Pedro Pagliar off three kicks more often, I'm sure I'll be able to get there. So you were, let's take you back to this journey. So you've had your spell in League One, you've had a taste of it in Scotland, then you're back at Norwich fighting for a shirt there. How did you find that period? Yeah, it was actually quite difficult because it was, I had, I came back from Aberdeen and I had half a season of being in the squad, being left out of the squad, on the bench, unused sub, that kind of, where you're on the fringe of the squad.

35:41I made a couple of appearances off the bench at the end of the season and then I had one full season, which you're obviously seeing the clips from here, under Daniel Farke, and then got my move. But the year in the Championship, honestly, the Championship's such a competitive, brilliant league that I adapted pretty quickly to it, and I think that's why English football, and you see people struggle to adapt to the Premier League, all this is just a valuable experience of the intensity and the physical aspect of English football, which left me in good stead when I joined the Premier League, because the championship's gruelling, it's long.

36:16I only had the one season, but I think I played 45 out of 46 games and scored a lot of goals and learnt so much. You got your big move to Leicester. So how exciting was it to take that next step in the Premier League? I comment, sorry to interrupt, I commentated on your first game. Was it Old Trafford? Oh, the first game? Yeah, Friday night football. Friday night, yeah. Yeah, I remember. So first time I'd really seen you play. So let me ask you, Jamie, did you think that when you saw him that this was someone who could make it in the Premier League? Yeah, because the thing I love in football is personality.

36:44And I'm not talking off the pitch and giving interviews. I'm talking about personality on the pitch. And I think you've got both. And what I mean by that is always wanting the ball. One of the biggest things in football for me, and I was always taught that by my dad, was no matter how the game is going, you always want the ball. You always want to show. You want to help your teammates. And I remember watching you in the number 10 position off the front. Yeah, yeah, behind the body, yeah. Yeah, so I was just watching and you were permanently... I know Trafford's a big pitch. There's space there to get between the lines.

37:06And you were constantly showing and getting on the half turn. and it was more, I can't remember if you created a chance or nearly scored, but something just told me straight away, he's got something about him, because you just always wanted the ball. First game in the Premier League away at Old Trafford. I remember that night, I remember it vividly. I went home and actually had recorded the game and watched it back and watched the coverage and hearing you and Gary Neville give me praise and I was just like, yeah, this is the Premier League. I was so happy to be there. I remember the first couple of minutes the ball got played into Paul Pogba and he just shielded it with his backside and just couldn't get near and I thought, wow, this is...

37:40I grew into the game and ended up having a pretty good game. Yeah, I always try and play with that personality. That will never lose me. I hate sometimes that people may think that the personality off the pitch and I think I've got a jokingly personality, I like to have a laugh and do some of the social media banter and the YouTube stuff and all that. I'd never want people to come away from the fact that I love that I'm a footballer and I'm so hungry and passionate about being a footballer and being better and I can't wait to be back and I'm so hungry to be back and showing my personality on the pitch because that's where I do my best work and that's what I love doing the most.

38:14Let's see your first Premier League goal, which of course was for Leicester. You didn't have long to wait for August was out. All deflected, Dave. These are all my deflected ones. We've got some others as well. All the best ones. That was against Wolves, first home game. Yeah, really nice feeling. Like I said earlier, going back to that, you want to get the first goal out the way quickly as possible. And then this happens, they start flying in. Yeah, it's a nice one against Arsenal. Had some great times at Leicester, brilliant club. I absolutely love my time here. And some real success as well, didn't you?

38:50I mean, those back-to-back top five finishes. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We had a... I feel like the time at Leicester, it was a little bit... It just ended on a little bit of a sour note just because of the relegation and how it finished, which I was utterly disappointed about. But so many good times, all these memories just flooding back. Scored a lot of goals and just helped the team. And we had a successful period with an FA Cup, Community Shield, and like you said, back-to-back fifth places under Brendan for the majority, which I look back on as a big part of my life, that period. Became a father there, met my partner there.

39:32apart from the... Not in chronological order. But yeah, just great times at Leicester. And like I said, just a little... Just devastated that it finished in relegation, but a brilliant time nonetheless for the other years. Yeah, we've got a graphic actually. Let's have a look at this, James. I'll come and sort of talk you through this because I know you're someone that's always sort of looked closely at your numbers and that's pretty clear. And I think that shows your sort of seriousness about the game. in terms of your premier league career and this this spell at leicester so the greens are obviously the the the best numbers so top top goals 21 22 when you scored 12 and eight assists as well to finish with 20 goals and assists was that when when you felt you know you were you were really getting somewhere yeah yeah people were taking notice of you yeah yeah i would say this is just premier league numbers as well you have a weird thing about yourself you know the numbers man i know all the stats kind of thing of my career, they just stick with me quite well.

40:32That season was the season we got to a European semi-final, it was the Conference League because we dropped out of the Europa League and I got 18 goals that year. That was a big season. We lost to Roma in the semi-final, Jose's Roma, and they went on to win the competition. I'm always proud of the numbers, I always want to do better. Like I just said, I'll reiterate that these sort of times I just absolutely loved and look back with fond memories. Do you sort of accept that you're a rarity, certainly in terms of English footballers, that is able to, as Jamie talked about, popping up that space between the lines, the ability to go on either foot, the ability to shoot from distance and from close range?

41:13Yeah, yeah, I would say. Again, like, really kind words. I don't want to seem like I'm blowing me on trumpet too much, but seeing all these goals and, yeah, that's a skill of mine shooting a lot of these goals these are highlight reel so they're always going to be the good stuff but a lot of good finishes I always back myself in around the edge of the box I'm I'm a goal scoring midfielder that's that's what I'd have myself down as I did you always score goals as a yeah I remember I actually remember I went through a little spell well I probably just just couldn't find the back then I was still getting chances I just I just weren't scoring enough and he actually said something on commentary or in the punditry years ago now it might have been around just before lockdown and he questioned about me and my inclusion in the England squad and what I've got to do to get in at that point.

41:56And Caro said, I love the way he plays and stuff. He just doesn't score enough goals. And I remember thinking, yes, I do. And I'm going to show you. And I went back to the drawing board. How can I score more? Why am I not putting some chances away? And I went on a really hot streak of them sort of numbers and managed to get back in the squad. He'll thank me one day. I'm sure I will. I think he just did, actually. I think he just did. So you mentioned the way that it ended at Leicester. I think it surprised all of us, James, because this was a squad that had been challenging for Champions League football and competing in European competitions and then suddenly finds itself with largely the same group of players dropping out of the league.

42:34When you reflect on that, how do you think that really happened? It's a weird one because I actually feel like we probably overachieved for a couple of seasons, but then almost Leicester fans expect that and then we underachieved massively with the relegation. It's probably, if there was a level playing field, it'd be somewhere in the middle. Because you have the highs of 5th-5th at FA Cup and Community Shield, you know what fans are like. And that's the beauty of football, they get carried away and they think we should be here. And the relegation was obviously, we were there, but we probably should have been there.

43:04Yeah, that will still haunt me. I think about that sometimes. Stuff like that doesn't leave you. When you have that competitive willingness to win, that season will never leave me. I do try and balance it with the fact that in this period under Brendan, we had some great times and we gave Leicester fans stuff that they'll remember forever, like the days at Wembley and the fifth play and some of the games at home that we beat the big teams and stuff. But that one will always sit there and it's just part of the journey. There's ups and downs, it's like a roller coaster, but that was one of the negatives that just lingers, you know.

43:40And there'll be some great moments to reflect on as well, of course. And then there was the big money move to Spurs. Was it always Spurs for you? Yeah, it was. There was talk, there was a few conversations with other clubs and stuff, but I always just felt like... I'm not just saying this to the clear, I always felt like I was going to be a Tottenham player and there's genuine meaning behind that. I'm not just saying that because I'm at Tottenham now and I'm trying to get the fans to love me or whatever. I used to play against Spurs and I just felt like when Eriksen left, there was kind of a little gap for a player like myself and especially when Harry was there, Sonny, I just I saw myself, I had vision that kind of thing.

44:23So when I got the call it was one that I didn't want to turn down, I couldn't really entertain anything else really because I could picture myself in the white shirt at the stadium. And what a start you had under Ange Posikoglu if you recall, that 10 games into the season unbeaten I think it was eight wins and two draws and Ang Posikoglu had the team flying I think it was actually this point when Jamie said I think I said on this program Jamie I remember it that that you said that James Madison was the most influential player in the Premier League and that was that was just like 10 games into the season it was because the way the way Ang played it was a joy to watch I mean we also described Tottenham always the most entertaining entertaining team to watch.

45:07And when you want to entertain, people lead you up more than someone like James Mannerson, the system of sort of the full-back. Sometimes you'll be popping up into full-back positions. Explain a little bit about how that system works. It was something that we probably hadn't seen in the Premier League before in terms of midfield players going into full-backs going into midfield positions. We see it a little bit more now. I mentioned this on commentary on Sunday. We're now actually seeing full-backs actually going into number 10 positions now. But I think Andrew's probably the first person to do it.

45:31How did that rotation work? How much work was there on the training ground? Yeah, there was a lot of work on the training ground. We'd never have a session with Ange where the base of the session and the model wasn't around how we played, with full-backs inside and wingers high and wide, not really allowed to move from the touchline, kind of fixed wingers, and then rotation from the midfield three. I think we had seen it a few times with Pep and putting Zinchenko in midfield, so one. Ange then did it with the two and would end up in number 10 positions, and he absolutely loved that. He'd love when his fullbacks, because we'd work on it, you know.

46:06So sometimes it'd show us clips, I hope he doesn't mind me saying if he's watching it. It'd show us clips of the fullbacks in the number 10 positions, and then maybe your number 10 and your number 8 in the fullback positions. Just like rotation, there's still a structure, but it just didn't matter who the personnel was. And he enjoyed that, and we loved playing. It was, you would describe it as chaotic and entertaining and stuff, but it was really fun to play with. And we ended up with a trophy in the range, so huge respect. I loved that little period with him. We had ups and downs, but that's what I miss.

46:36I miss the ups and downs being injured. That's what keeps you alive, you know. I miss everything about the game at the minute, but that period and the end was one I'll look back on fondly, I think. We'll throw that graphic up again with your numbers on, just to show you that the green box in the corner tells us that that was actually your most productive season, last season, in terms of minutes per goals and assists. Were you aware of that? I didn't know it was my most productive. No, I knew I'd scored a lot of goals and assists with the minutes I was getting. Yeah, it was one thing that obviously last season I was getting took off a lot in the 60th, 70th minute.

47:16Is that frustrating? Yeah, yeah, that would leave me annoyed at Ange. I love him, but also at times, especially as an attacking player, when I'm scoring a lot, you don't want to be brought off. Would you chat about that? Yeah, we debriefed a lot. I was part of the leadership. He made me the vice-captain. We'd talk, I'd go in his office, I remember a couple of chats we had that were... He was an honest man, Andrew, really honest, straight to the point. You could have a really good conversation with him if he felt something, he'd just tell you, you know, and vice versa. But, no, it was disappointing the way we finished in the league, because I actually felt like, individually, I had a lot of good performances within it, but we just couldn't string it together as a team, so ultimately it doesn't really matter about all this stuff.

47:53Because if you're scoring and not putting together consistent performances as a team, it doesn't really matter, you know?

48:03Yeah, that team had a bit of everything, didn't it? And as you say, you went on to win the Europa League. But I think everyone was just sort of surprised that there was Roy. There's the Roy celebration.

48:18Brilliant. Yeah, I remember that week. That was a... No, I love Roy Keane. People ask me about Roy Keane loads since that. I think he loves you. If I'm watching the TV, I want to watch Roy Keane because he's box office and he's entertaining. He's a... And he was a top, top player. And he's great to watch, isn't he? But he obviously gave me a bit of criticism in the week and I ended up scoring against United. So if you're not allowed to hit back at him, then... Yeah, I think it's James Zeddy. He might have lost that point, you know? He quite liked that. You know what, actually? People think, you know, you're...

48:44Or sometimes me with someone else. Pund... They love... I love that. That thing of coming back and someone coming back and having a bit of personality, a bit of character. And you know what? You know, if I was a player... There wasn't as many sort of TV shows or pundits about when I was a player. I think I'd be exactly the same. Why would you just take criticism or take... You give a little bit back, you know, in a respectful manner. It was brilliant. Great TV. So let's talk about your international career. Yeah. Seven England caps. How does that sit with you? Very proud. Also feel like it should and could be more at this stage.

49:20But I also don't feel like that chapter's over, you know? Far from that. I'm very hungry to be back fit, to be able to be in them conversations again. Again, without trying to... I don't want to sound big head-dragic, but I know if I'm playing well and I'm at the level, I can play at a really high level in the Premier League, the top league. I'm hungry to get back. I'm very motivated. Sometimes when you have a big injury like this, you have time to reflect and think more than just going into another season and pre-season and the first game and then you actually have more time to kind of come away from it a little bit and that's one of the positives one of the small positives of being injured I just don't think that chapter's closed at all I'm sure it's not how do you reflect on on the World Cup then 2022 when you had you had that great form that carried you into the squad yeah but then didn't get any game time when you were there I got injured I got injured in the game pretty unlucky I got a little knocked to my knee weren't a big injury it was just a small one that kept me out for a few weeks in the West Ham game.

50:24The game before we actually met up, scored in the game and had to go off in the first half and was hoping that it was nothing. But I had to have the first couple of weeks of training without the squad. And then by then we'd played the first couple of games and I then tried with Kempe, the physio, who they were all brilliant, but just couldn't get fit. I managed to get on the bench for the round of 16, but I hadn't trained. And I kind of knew my kind of tournament was almost over before when I was sat there, you know, because I'd literally hardly trained. So that was... It's been devastating. Of course, yeah.

50:55I'd worked so hard to get there. But again, that's just part of the ups and downs of football. And just one of them is disappointing. But use that as motivation to try and get back in, you know, and get back to another one. I suppose that's my next question. Does that all make you hungrier, that disappointment of 2022? The being part of that Spurs group that got to the Europa League final, but not actually being fit to be on there and lifting the trophy. Does that all sort of add the hunger and the fuel to the fire for next time? Yeah, everything does. The Europa League one actually sits well with me because that's such a big part to play in the build-up to it.

51:28Like, I played... I scored in every round almost until the final. I scored in the semi, got a nice assist in the quarter, scored in the round of 16. So that one actually feels different to the World Cup as such because I felt like we all did that as a group and I played my part, my race was run, I couldn't play the final. But if we won, I was absolutely fine with that. the world cup's a little bit different that's more a little bit of heartache but all we've spoke about is all motivation you you should always want to feel like you have a point to prove i feel like i'll have the mentality of having that point to prove till i hang my boots up you know always trying to having that almost self-belief of thinking i'm probably better than i am but i'm not saying that's the case but you should always kind of have that mentality of just think it because it drives you you know having that sort of personality just listen to I always speak and trying to prove people wrong.

52:18I was a little bit like that myself in my own career. Do you ever feel like you've done enough? You're always thinking, no matter what you've done, there's something else. I always felt when I was playing that, no matter what I did, wasn't quite enough. And it always gave me something to keep going. Do you always feel you've got a point to prove and you keep pushing forward? Yeah, I kind of put that on myself. I'm not talking about any one individual when I say, like, I'm not talking about managers or people that are expected. I'm talking about a point to prove. Just almost at the minute, I'm really hungry to get back for Spurs because we've got a new manager.

52:45I've got someone else with a point to prove. I'll probably almost feel like a new signing to Thomas Frank by the time I'm back. Just having a new manager, I can't wait to get out and train and show him what I'm about and show him my ability and how I'll be able to help him and the team. And just that kind of mindset. Whenever I hear a footballer interviewed at a different stage of his career, maybe even an experienced player, you're 29, an experienced player, I've done a lot in your career, and I hear a player say, and he gets asked a question, have you got a point to prove? And he says, no. I can never understand it.

53:16I think a footballer's got a point to prove every single day he goes into training, to prove that he's still the same player, to prove that he's still hungry, to prove that he should still be in the team. I've never got that answer. I think you've sort of got that sort of mentality, that hunger way. You're going to keep going, even when you get to your mid-30s, and people like me are saying that your legs have gone. You're going, oh, I'll put it wrong. I'm going to go again. I'm going to go again. And I do think you need that. And I think as a footballer, as I say, no matter what level you're at, no matter what your experience, what your quality, you've always got a point to prove.

53:45Do you agree? Yeah, completely. I still feel like I've got so much more football to play. I'm 29, I'm coming into my prime years, I'm having a year of getting strong in the gym and recovering from the thingy, but recovering from my knee injury, sorry. There's nothing wrong with, like Cara said, having that point-to-prove mentality, if you want to call it that, and being hungry to get back. I just honestly can't wait to come back, help the team, help my club. We can't wait to see that. as well, James. We applaud you for what you've done so far in your career. It's been an absolute joy to watch and we applaud you for being brave enough to come on here tonight.

54:21Thank you very much. Not the easiest night, perhaps, but well done. Well done indeed. Thanks for having me. Have you enjoyed yourself? Oh, yeah, yeah. Thank you for having me. It's nice to be able to do something like this. Very rare as a current player you get to try and do something like this, but the injuries allowed me, so thanks for having me and everyone looking after me. Great. Well done. Brilliant. Well done. Thank you. Happy Christmas. and it might be a happy Christmas for Manchester United who have made it five unbeaten away from home with a 4-1 victory at Wolves tonight. Good night.

54:56Thanks for listening to the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. Don't forget to hit follow so you don't miss an episode.