James Maddison
James Maddison

Leicester midfielder James Maddison paid Aaron Wan-Bissaka the greatest compliment during Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Brighton. Indeed, Wan-Bissaka has been one of United’s most improved players this season. Under Erik ten Hag, the 25-year-old full-back has been revitalised, particularly recently.

He has made 26 appearances in all competitions this season after battling to secure a regular first-team spot under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick. And on Sunday afternoon at Wembley, the former Crystal Palace defender was at his magnificent best.

James Maddison
James Maddison had the highest praise for Aaron Wan-Bissaka following the full-back solid show in Man United’s FA Cup win over Brighton. Credits: Twitter

James Maddison has ‘ridiculous’ praise for Wan-Bissaka

United were up against one of the most exciting teams left in the competition in Brighton. The Seagulls, like United have made a stunning progress under new coach Roberto De Zerbi. The Italian has improved the players at the club incredibly, especially the ones plying their trade in the final third.

One of them is Japan winger Kaoru Mitoma. The 25-year-old has terrorised defenders on the flanks this season, enroute to his 10 goal and 7 assists in 31 games for Brighton. And he was up against Wan-Bissaka in the FA Cup semifinals. Much to the astonishment of both United as well as Brighton fans, Wan-Bissaka kept the in-form winger quiet for long stretches of the game, and even showed off his ability going forward, with a fantastic solo run down the right side.

Many others praised the right-back on social media, including Leicester City playmaker James Maddison, who claimed the right-back to be the ‘best in the world’ during the semi-final clash. Maddison wrote:

“AWB (Aaron Wan-Bissaka) is ridiculously good at 1 v 1 defending. Probably the best in the world bar none. So many wingers run out of ideas when playing directly against him.”

When Leicester faced United earlier this season, James Maddison struggled to get past Aaron Wan-Bissaka – and he isn’t alone. Wan-Bissaka, in fact, has the highest win rate in 1v1 duels of any Premier League defender this season and has only been dribbled past once.

Emmanuel Dennis of Nottingham Forest beat the full-back with a successful dribble in United’s 3-0 triumph earlier this season, according to stats. However, Wan-Bissaka has a success percentage of 93.8 percent overall, putting him miles above of defenders in the Premier League who have defended at least 15 one-vs-ones.

Meanwhile, fans too sided with James Maddison’s opinion, following United’s penalty shootout win over the Seagulls to reach back-to-back domestic cup finals in Ten Hag’s debut season. The fans echoed: