James Maddison and Ange Postecoglou issues mooted amid Tottenham exit claim
James Maddison appears to have fallen out of favour under Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham.
Postecoglou opted to leave Maddison out once again in the Premier League as Spurs were beaten 2-1 by Arsenal in the North London derby at the Emirates on Wednesday (15 January).
As a result, the midfielder is expected to demand a Spurs exit and has been tipped to spearhead a clearout this summer.
And ex-Spurs scout Bryan King – speaking exclusively to Tottenham News – believes something has happened behind the scenes between Maddison and Postecoglou.
“What Maddison needs is regular football,” King said.
“Otherwise, his international career is over. At the moment he isn’t playing regularly, and suddenly someone who was Spurs’ outstanding player at one point has become a squad player.
“After he came on against Arsenal we saw little petulant incidents from Maddison, complaining about fouls and so on. If I were Maddison I’d be questioning whether or not Postecoglou and the staff think I’m good enough. If an 18-year-old is starting ahead of him, something has to be going on behind the scenes.
“If he is going to move, I don’t think it will be until the summer. Something has happened between Maddison and Postecoglou, and it doesn’t sit well with me at all. He’s not enjoying his football, you can see that. Postecoglou isn’t transmitting any confidence in supposedly one of the club’s star players.”
Ange Postecoglou and James Maddison problems mooted at Tottenham
Maddison was one of the first names on the teamsheet during Postecoglou’s early days at Tottenham. However, against Arsenal, the 59-year-old instead chose to start with 18-year-old Lucas Bergvall – who in fairness justified this decision after impressing Rio Ferdinand with his display against the Gunners.
As a result, it is clear that something isn’t right between the manager and the player. However, what isn’t quite clear is what exactly that something is.
Maddison has now been benched for four Premier League matches on the bounce.
Therefore, if things don’t change soon, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the 28-year-old move on in the summer.
In other Tottenham news, Alan Brazil was baffled by one thing Postecoglou did against Arsenal.
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