The England international has completed his transfer to north London after leaving Leicester City following their relegation to the Championship
Even before Leicester City’s return to the Championship was confirmed, this summer had long been earmarked as the transfer window where James Maddison would depart the King Power Stadium. Over the past two seasons, Maddison has been linked with a string of Premier League clubs, including Arsenal and Newcastle.
In the end, though, it is Tottenham who have finally snapped up the England international. At the beginning of the window, the Foxes were reportedly quoting £60 million ($75.8m) for their prized asset. However, following some push back from Spurs, it’s expected that he will cost just £40m ($51m).
Even with Maddison having just one year left to run on his contract, this represents pretty sensational value, especially when you consider how much Manchester United could end up paying for an English player in a similar position: Mason Mount.
This isn’t just a transfer born of convenience, though. Maddison is, without doubt, an elite Premier League performer. By picking him up so early in the window, Spurs might have completed the best business of the summer so far.
Maddison’s consistency after arriving at Leicester from Coventry City was pretty spectacular. He entered his first season with lofty expectations as the Foxes parted with a record fee for a Championship player to secure his services, but he hit the ground running, with no player in Europe’s top-five leagues – not even Lionel Messi – creating more chances than him during the 2018-19 season. The arrival of Brendan Rodgers partway through that campaign coincided with a significant improvement in his overall game the following season.
Although he registered fewer assists, only Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Bruno Fernandes averaged more goal-creating actions per 90 minutes during 2019-20. Maddison’s performances helped Leicester to a fifth-place finish, and they likely would have broken into the Champions League qualification spots too, if their playmaker-in-chief did not pick up an untimely hip injury in April 2020.
The 2020-21 season was Maddison’s best yet as he racked up 15 Premier League goal involvements, despite again being troubled by the same knock. He improved on this further in 2021-22, where he managed 12 goals and eight assists, despite Leicester becoming a far less well-functioning team than they had been previously.
These incremental improvements tell the story of a player who took on more and more responsibility with each passing season. And, heading into the 2022-23 campaign, a Leicester team riddled with problems on and off the field knew they would have to lean upon their talisman more than ever.
(Goal)
