SON HEUNG-MIN has told Roy Keane: You are wrong about James Maddison.
Midfielder Maddison made it clear Keane WAS the target of his ‘shush’ celebration after netting the winner against Manchester United on Sunday, with a TikTok video posted later that night.
It came after Red Devils icon Keane, 53, belittled the oche-obsessed star’s ability last week, saying: “Maddison isn’t bad, when he’s not at the darts.”
Now Tottenham skipper Son has leapt to his team-mate’s defence, revealing the pair discussed the stinging criticism and how to prove it to be wide of the mark.
South Korean international forward Son, 32, said: “Everybody has an opinion but I don’t care what they say.
“Madders is one of the best team-mates I’ve played with in my career.
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“In big games, he steps up and scores goals, that’s why we’ve missed him.
“Me and Madders had a chat about this because he’s always had a good personality and been able to move on.
“He’s shown people that it’s wrong. He showed great character and put on a great performance.”
Keane’s comments about Maddison went viral — to the point where they even caught the Tottenham midfielder’s attention.
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United’s legendary Treble-winning captain Keane claimed: “If you think he’s going to come back and get Spurs into the top six, you’re in cuckoo land.
“He’s a talented player. But if you’re a player in Spurs’ dressing room and Maddison’s back in the squad, you wouldn’t be looking and going, ‘He’s back, we’re going to be fine’.”
Keane’s dig appeared to fire up Maddison against the Irishman’s old club, as he returned from three weeks out with a calf problem to net the game’s only goal after just 13 minutes.
England star Maddison then hit back with his celebration where he made a ‘talking’ gesture with his hand before his trademark darts-throwing routine and then shushed Keane with his finger.
He did not name who it was aimed at in his post-match interview.
But it became clear later that evening with a video posted on social media platform TikTok.
The footage started with Keane’s criticism, then fellow pundit Ian Wright urging Maddison to “silence” the former midfielder’s damning verdict, before a clip of Maddison’s goal and celebration to the backdrop of amusingly dramatic music.
Maddison, who attended the Bafta Awards after-party on Sunday night, was one of four Spurs players to return from injury against United along with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and subs Brennan Johnson and Wilson Odobert.
After a long three months with so many absentees, Spurs’ problems look to be easing with Dominic Solanke, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven hopefully back soon.
Son paid tribute to youngsters like Archie Gray, 18, and 19-year-old Lucas Bergvall for stepping up over the winter in the absence of the injured senior pros.
The Tottenham captain added: “I don’t want to dwell on our dreams or blame anything on us missing our main players.
“In the period of time they have been out, everyone at the club should appreciate the job the young players have done and never forget all the tough moments they have faced in the last two-and-a-half months.
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“They didn’t deserve it but they have handled it really well.
“Now it’s the turn of the senior players to step up.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
