James Maddison has aimed a fresh dig at Roy Keane following Tottenham Hotspur's 1-0 win over Manchester United. The 28-year-old midfielder, who was heavily criticised by the Red Devils legend ahead of the clash, fired the Lilywhites to glory on Sunday evening, claiming three crucial points in the race for European football.
Maddison, who had missed the last five games across all competitions with a calf injury, put Tottenham ahead inside the opening quarter of an hour. After slotting the ball past Andre Onana, the England international ran towards a television camera beside the United goal while making a 'talking gesture' with his hand.
Then, he put his finger to his slips and performed his darts celebration, taking aim at Keane. Speaking on the recent episode of The Overlap, the Irishman said: "We saw Maddison at Tamworth [in FA Cup third round], he was taken off. Tamworth are non league.
"People say Maddison's the man. When is he going to step up to the plate? He got relegated with Leicester and he'll get relegated with Spurs."
Taking a swipe at Maddison's visit to Alexandra Palace to watch the PDC World Darts Championship, Keane added: "Maddison isn't bad, when he's not at the darts. But let me tell you, if you think he's going to come back and get Spurs into the top six, you're in cuckoo land.
"He's good, he's a talented player. But if you're a player in the Spurs dressing room and Maddison's back in the squad, you wouldn't be looking and going, 'Oh Jesus - he's back today. We're going to be fine.' England have a squad of 300 and he can't even get in that. You kid yourselves everybody."
When asked if the gesture and celebration was aimed at Keane, Maddison kept his cards close to his chest. As quoted by talkSPORT, he said: "Just a little bit of outside noise. People have their opinions and I just wanted to do my talking on the pitch and I hope there's a certain few who enjoyed me being the match-winner today."
The Tottenham star added: “No one’s more critical of myself than me. The gaffer always talks about blocking the outside noise but sometimes you can’t miss it, it’s constantly in your face.
"With social media, WhatsApp, people sending you stuff. You do see it and it is there especially when it’s a big name. But it’s about responding in the right way and I was the match-winner.'"