James Maddison: Signing of the Summer?
After facing relegation last season with Leicester City, and with a year left on his contract at the Foxes, it was inevitable that this summer, James Maddison was going to be a target for many Premier League clubs.
The England International made it clear that it was nothing personal with Leicester, although spending a season in the championship wasn’t an option for Maddison if he wanted to keep up his national team status.
The ex-Norwich City star has been wanted by various clubs over the past few seasons, however with Leicester City’s recent success over the last five years, he was happy to stay put at the King Power Stadium. Having played a key part in Leicester’s FA Cup win, Maddison started to pick up great interest as well as team-mates Youri Tielemans, Harvey Barnes and Caglar Soyuncu.
In the summer it was revealed that Maddison, along with close friend and team-mate Harvey Barnes, could leave The Foxes amid interest from Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur. However, this came with a catch as Maddison had been priced up at £50 million pounds by the Leicester board.
On June 29th it had been announced that Maddison had signed for Tottenham, with Spurs paying £10 million pounds shy of the original asking price. With new Champions League side
Newcastle also keen, it is clear whatever Ange Postecoglou is building at Spurs spoke to Maddison more; he joined what looked like a strong squad, ready to prove a point under their new manager. With not long remaining before the season started, club legend and captain Harry Kane announced he would be looking for a new challenge in joining Bayern Munich.
The no.10 shirt was left available and with big boots to fill, the new star stepped up and took the challenge on. A position at Spurs that in recent years, has been graced with immense talent, goals, assists and great leadership.
Having started every league game of the season thus far, the new Spurs no.10 has really hit the ground running; the attacking midfielder has tallied up five assists and two goals eight league games so far, helping his side to sit fourth in the table, with a chance to go top with a win over Fulham on Monday night.
Currently unbeaten, new manager Ange Postecoglou’s methods of letting James Maddison become a free roaming attacking midfielder are becoming pivotal to their season. He has been given a real license to express himself, which has allowed him so far averaging 0.94 goal involvements a game. The Spurs no.10 is also second to ex-Tottenham star Kieran Trippier
when it comes to key passes so far this season, creating a key 3.1 per game.
Spurs haven’t enjoyed a playmaker like this since Christian Eriksen left in 2020. The past few seasons have all been reliant on Harry Kane, who scored more than 40% of Tottenham’s goals last season and managed to make up 25% of their shots as well. This hole needed to be filled and so far, Maddison is providing the goods and is trying to force the issue in
the final third.
In August, Maddison won the Premier League player of the month award, although it’s his boss who has trumped him, winning the manager of month twice on the bounce; Ange Postecoglou has kept his side unbeaten over two months.
Tottenham’s start of the season is undoubtedly a massive team effort, from the new backroom staff to the new players that have been brought in as well as existing players who have rediscovered their form. It is clear they are a team performing like they once were under ex-boss Mauricio Pochettino. But without James Maddison, would it all be going so smoothly? There is still a long time left in the season but so far, Maddison has provided Spurs with a completely new attacking prowess that could just make him be the signing of the summer.
