Leicester City playmaker James Maddison travelled to London on Wednesday to see a specialist about a fresh knee injury.

The Premier League club will await on the advice of the specialist before deciding on when the 26-year-old will return to first-team action.

Maddison sustained a knee injury in Leicester’s final game before the 2022 World Cup. He travelled to the tournament with Gareth Southgate’s England side but failed to make a single appearance.

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Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said ahead of the club’s game against Liverpool on Friday that Maddison was receiving specialist advice and would be unavailable.

“He won’t be available for the game. He was with Mark (Waller) our doctor, getting some special advice in London today, so I’ll wait to hear from them a little bit later on. He won’t be available for the game.”

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Rodgers also made clear that the injury was separate to the knee problem Maddison suffered on the eve of the World Cup. 

He added: “He was clearly getting treatment when he was out there (in Qatar) and then the medical team deemed him okay to train. So he has trained and been available for games. He’s come back here, looking to do some work and then he felt some pain in a different part of his knee.

“So the medical team have assessed that, looked at that. He was trying to go out onto the field and do some more multi-directional work and he’s getting a pain from it.

“So we’re going down to London today to see the specialist and and get another opinion on it to see what he’s up. And that’s what we’re up to, the latest.”

Asked about whether the findings of his medical team were at odds with the information provided by England’s medical staff, he replied: “But they had him see a specialist as well. 

“They have some of the best specialists about, so I am sure they would have had specialists look at him. But I don’t need to talk about that.”

Maddison had scored in Leicester’s win at West Ham on November 12 but limped off after picking up a knock to his knee after just 25 minutes.

He travelled to Qatar with England after being selected in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad and had declared himself “in good form,” but did not feature during England’s run to the quarter-finals and missed some training sessions as he sought to manage his workload.

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Leicester sit 13th in the Premier League table after succumbing to Newcastle goals from Chris Wood, Miguel Almiron and Joelinton, with Rodgers disappointed with his side’s performance throughout.

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(Photo: Getty Images)