JAMES MADDISON is set to finally give Tottenham fans the creativity they have been crying out for the last few years.
Many supporters were bored to tears by the defensive fare served up by Antonio Conte’s pragmatic side last term.
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The style under predecessors Nuno Espirito Santo and Jose Mourinho was arguably even more dull.
But new chief Ange Postecoglou is known for his thrilling approach.
And with playmaker Maddison in the team, having fans off their seats in excitement looks even more guaranteed.
The England star’s transfer was confirmed following a medical yesterday at Tottenham’s Hotspur Way training ground after a fee of £40million plus add-ons was agreed.
Whether Maddison will be supplying the bullets for Harry Kane next term remains to be seen, given Bayern Munich’s serious interest in the Three Lions skipper.
Yet the likes of Son Heung-min, Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski and – hopefully – Kane will be licking their lips at linking up with Maddison.
And his stats last season were mostly better than all those Tottenham attackers.
He also compares well to the rest of the Premier League.
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Kevin De Bruyne (46) is the only attacking midfielder to have scored and assisted more in the Premier League over the last two seasons.
Maddison’s haul of 39 is six better than Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard and seven more than Manchester United maestro Bruno Fernandes.
Spurs know Maddison’s quality better than most teams having conceded goals to him both home and away this term, as well as one the term before and another the campaign before that.
Cristian Stellini was Conte’s No2 who took charge when his boss was recovering from gallbladder surgery earlier this year and then had the reins on an interim basis following Conte’s exit in March.
Stellini was quizzed about Maddison ahead of Spurs’ visit to the King Power in February, which Leicester won 4-1 for what would be Brendan Rodgers’ last win as Foxes chief.
The Italian replied: “We like Maddison as a player.
“He is an important player in the league, a player with an important type of skill, like his delivery, his cross, his right foot is a very important foot so he shoots, he crosses, he takes the set-pieces.
“When you feel how important this type of skill is, for sure you like this type of player.”
Those are exactly the attributes that will make Spurs fans like Maddison, and the kind to unlock defences which at times proved problematic last term.
Conte would point to his leaky defence as more of the issue, given Spurs netted 70 Premier League goals in the 22-23 season.
That was more than both Manchester United and Newcastle, who qualified for the Champions League.
But anyone who witnessed the hat-trick of devastating defeats in seven days at the start of March, which led to Conte’s departure, will know a door-unlocker like Maddison is exactly what Tottenham need.
That horror week saw Spurs lose to Sheffield United in the FA Cup and Wolves in the league, as well as limply going out to AC Milan in the Champions League last-16 second leg – all without scoring a goal or laying a glove.
Where Postecoglou will play the ex-Norwich man will be fascinating, given his versatility. Will it be as one of his deeper midfielders, a No10 or out wide?
Yet the beauty of the three-cap new recruit is he can play all of those positions and will offer the kind of unpredictability sorely lacking since the days of Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli.
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