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We need to talk, Gareth Southgate.

We need to talk about this repeated ignoring of James Maddison's excellent club form.

The Leicester City midfielder is one of the brightest sparks in the entire of the Premier League at the moment, and yet still he watches from the bench while on international duty.

Usually, that's because the England boss prefers Chelsea's Mason Mount in one of the advanced midfield roles.

Mount's stats match up almost perfectly with Maddison's so far this season, four goals and two assists.

But, of course, Mount doesn't have the experience of producing mouth-watering performances at the highest level beyond this season, unlike Maddison who, two years his senior, is in his second Premier League campaign.

In his first, Maddison was the Premier League's most creative player, reaching three figures in chance creation, as well as scoring seven and assisting in as many more. He has quickly become one of the league's most reliable number 10s.

And yet he's not the Three Lions' preferred number 10.

Maddison is already being compared to the likes of Matt Le Tissier for the way he is being shunned by the England boss.

Yes, the 22-year-old finally got his debut during this break.

After receiving his fourth call-up - withdrawing from one of those squads with illness - Maddison came off the bench in the 7-0 mauling of Montenegro, only to be left on the bench for Sunday's dead rubber against Kosovo.

To Southgate's defence, the City midfielder did have a calf strain which provided cause for concern heading into the game, and he might have been doing Maddison a favour.

But this isn't the first time he has overlooked his best creative midfielder, and he hasn't always had an excuse.

Maddison has had to watch from the bench time and again as what many see as 'big club preference' sways Southgate towards Mount and even Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

We thought this season's form might have changed that, some of the big goals Maddison has scored, the improvement he has made in handling defensive responsibilities and the influence in his team's fantastic start,

Even stat gurus WhoScored recognise how well he's doing, rating Maddison as the Premier League's most in-form player, placing him second in the continent with only Lionel Messi enjoying a better spell.

And still Southgate remains unmoved.

It was a similar story with Jamie Vardy, who despite being in far better form than Harry Kane, and slightly better than young Tammy Abraham, would probably find himself in a similar circumstance had he not retired ahead of this season.

So what does Maddison need to do? How many more trees can he possibly pull up?

Southgate has proven a wise choice for England, but his repeated omission of Maddison is becoming alarming.

How long is he going to ignore the stats, the performances, what almost everyone sees but he?

For the young midfielder's sake, you can only hope it's not much longer.

But the big club preference we have seen across many years in the England setup tells us that's unlikely to be the case.

Southgate has managed to make many much-needed culture changes since taking over the Three Lions.

But until he revises this approach, the backlash will continue.