James Maddison impact delights pundit despite injury woes, ‘I’d pay double’ £40m to Leicester even now
We’re delighted to welcome former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson as our exclusive columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium…
Paul Robinson would “pay double” the fee James Maddison cost Tottenham even now despite his injury woes coming back to bite him.
The former Leicester City midfielder arrived with a lengthy list of absences on his record and has now been ruled out into the New Year after going off against Chelsea on 6 November, but Robinson is so impressed by the 27-year-old that he would be willing to go back and pay twice his £40million fee [Sky Sports, 29 June].
The ex-Tottenham and England keeper is delighted by the impact Maddison has made and believes the signing was a “massive coup” even with the injury concerns.
He exclusively told Tottenham News: “No, I don’t think they took a risk, I think it was a massive coup for them to pay £40million for a player who’s had such a massive impact, probably the biggest impact of any signing in the Premier League.
“The final third of the field and the attacking midfield is not where I worry about Spurs. You look at the likes of [Bryan] Gil coming back in, you look at [Giovani] Lo Celso, Brennan Johnson. Son [Heung-min] can play there, [Dejan] Kulusevski can play there, [Pape] Sarr can play there if you push him forward.
“Maddison’s had such a huge impact playing in that 10 role that absolutely they’re going to miss him, but the impact he’s had I’d pay double for him at the start of the season knowing what I know now.”
With three goals and five assists from just 11 Premier League appearances this season it is hard to argue with the value Ange Postecoglou has already got out of Maddison.
Winning the top flight’s player of the month award to kick off his Spurs career was the ideal start and his absence has already proven to be a huge loss.
As long as substantial lay-offs don’t become a frequent occurrence the investment will pay off through the quality he brings, but if transfer rivals were hesitant to spend big because of his injury record they might be feeling more vindicated now than they were for the first three months of the campaign.
In other Tottenham news, Robinson says a recent set back was more serious than might have been hoped.