'Maddison should stay at Leicester another few years' - Heskey believes Foxes star doesn't need to join Man Utd

Leicester City star James Maddison has no need to join Manchester United any time soon, says former England striker Emile Heskey.

Maddison has become one of the top attacking midfielders in the Premier League since joining the Foxes from Norwich in July 2018. The 23-year-old's displays have led to calls for a place in the England team and also admiring glances from Old Trafford, with United heavily tipped to make a big-money offer.

Heskey, though, feels that Maddison is in the right place already for his development and doesn't necessarily need to jump ship.

“Maddison has to look at himself and found out where his pathway lies. He is still a young lad with many years ahead of him and a lot of learning still to do," Heskey told 888sport.

"He has a great teacher in Brendan Rodgers. But at some stage he will be wondering what his next path will be. That he has taken it so far at Leicester and now what is the next path. So at some stage he will be looking to move to a bigger club.

"Right now though I don’t see why he can’t stay for another two or three years. That will still only take him to 25.”

Maddison isn't the only young England attacking midfielder linked with a transfer to Man Utd, with Aston Villa's Jack Grealish also tipped to head to Old Trafford in the near future. 

Like Maddison, Heskey doesn't think that Grealish necessarily needs to leave his current side, but he predicted the 24-year-old will depart Villa in the near future anyway.

"I don’t think Grealish needs to move but I think he wants to. He is going away with the England team and holding his own but he will still want to prove something, to know that he can do it week in, week out," Heskey continued.

"Not just in a 10-day spell with the Under-21s or training with the England full team, but week in, week out, and I know that he can. I played with him when I was at Villa and he was just 15 and he could hold himself then. With England he will have spoken to people and they will have told him what it’s like at the bigger clubs, 100 per cent."