On the final day of the English Premier League season, Abdoulaye Doucouré’s rasping half volley sent Everton fans into a frenzy and Leicester City fans into despair all at once.
Branded as “too good to go down”, the now EFL Championship-bound Foxes will likely see many of their star players look towards the exit at the King Power Stadium, with James Maddison top of that list.
The attacking midfielder hit 10 goals and provided nine assists in the 2022/23 season – five more goal contributions than any other player from a bottom half side – and the kind of productivity that big teams across the country will be fighting tooth and nail to add to their squads.
Here we take a look at some of Maddison’s options this summer.
Newcastle United
James Maddison has been heavily linked with The Magpies, who enjoyed an excellent domestic season that resulted in UEFA Champions League qualification for the first time since 2002.
Whilst Eddie Howe’s playing style is largely built on the energy, physicality and dynamism provided by his midfielders, there were times during the season when some extra finesse in the middle of the park wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Maddison has a comprehensive repertoire of attacking qualities, such as excellent vision, great ball control in tight spaces and tremendous ball-striking from a number of areas. If Newcastle were to pull the trigger and sign the England man, it would undoubtedly benefit the likes of Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak, two pacey strikers who would then be able to stretch defenses with a true #10 looking to find them at every opportunity.
With “The Toon” embarking on their first European adventure for many a year, Maddison could be the man to help them pick some of the continent’s tightest locks.
Tottenham Hotspur
The 2022/23 Season was a hugely disappointing one for Spurs. Aside from Harry Kane’s 30 league goals that were largely forgotten about due to Erling Haaland’s record breaking performances for champions Manchester City, their fans had very little to cheer about as off-field turbulence led to Antonio Conte’s departure and the club’s first finish outside of Europe since 2008/09.
One man linked with the Spurs hot seat is Brendan Rodgers, a manager under whom James Maddison hit career-best form at Leicester before his departure in April.
A potential Maddison and Rodgers reunion in North London would have the Tottenham faithful licking their lips, and rightly so. A trio of Dejan Kulusevski, Heung-Min Son and James Maddison behind Harry Kane (or any other striker) has both goalscoring and creative threat in abundance, with Maddison potentially filling a number 10-shaped hole that has been gaping wide at Spurs since Christian Eriksen’s departure in 2020.
Manchester United
The Red Devils seemingly throw their hat into the middle of every transfer saga, and this seems no different. Maddison is a self-proclaimed Manchester United fan, and would bring a level of guile to Old Trafford that their current crop of midfielders do not possess.
Bruno Fernandes creates a tremendous amount of chances but is often wasteful with his use of the ball, whilst Christian Eriksen occupies a deeper midfield position nowadays than he did during his time at Tottenham.
With United looking likely to invest in a center forward over the summer, Erik ten Hag would be sensible to bring Maddison in as a player truly capable of bringing the best out of players in front of him, as United look to win their first league title since 2013.
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