Tottenham Hotspur are pushing to sign James Maddison this week as Newcastle United back away from the playmaker.
Leicester City want up to £60million for midfielder James Maddison as Tottenham Hotspur aim to agree a deal in the coming days.
That is according to a report from The Telegraph, who claim that Tottenham are now trying to thrash out a deal to sign Maddison.
It’s stated that Maddison is a ‘priority target’ for new Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou and Spurs are now ‘pushing hard’ to secure a deal.
Newcastle are understood to be cooling their interest in Maddison as they instead focus on signing AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali.
That has left the door open for Tottenham to go and move for Maddison, who suffered relegation with Leicester at the end of the season.
The report claims that Leicester still want around £60million for Maddison despite dropping into the Championship.
Tottenham don’t plan to go that high but an offer worth £40million plus add-ons is now believed to be coming this week.
Ange Postecoglou needs an attack-minded midfielder amid James Maddison interest
Tottenham are undergoing a real change of identity this summer.
Gone are the days of the conservative, 3-4-3 under Antonio Conte as Postecoglou brings his attacking 4-3-3 setup to Spurs.
The problem is that Tottenham don’t quite have the players to play that style just yet.
Postecoglou lacks a midfielder who can go forward and create, ideally score a few goals as well.
That may be where Maddison comes in as a proven Premier League midfield threat, having bagged 43 goals and 34 assists in 163 top-flight games.
Maddison seems to be an ideal fit for Postecoglou’s style of play and there is still some room for growth at 26.
This may not be a cheap deal for Tottenham but Maddison – once hailed as ‘incredible’ by Pep Guardiola – could be the key to Postecoglou’s shift in approach.
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