James Maddison transfer news: Key factor named which could see Leicester star push through Tottenham move

One pundit thinks Leicester City man James Maddison might ask to join Tottenham this summer if one of his key demands isn’t met by the Foxes.

Maddison was in great form last season, registering 18 goals and 12 assists in all competitions for Leicester. Brendan Rodgers’ side didn’t enjoy the best of seasons but still went on to finish eighth in the Premier League and reach the Europa Conference League semi-final.

Maddison played a vital role in helping them get to the last four of the inaugural UEFA competition. He found the net twice against Randers, and once more versus PSV, before Leicester were beaten by eventual winners Roma.

Leicester need to push on and get back into the top six. They finished fifth in the Prem in the two seasons before the 2021-22 campaign, and were close to reaching the Champions League places too.

However, Leicester are the only Prem team yet to sign anyone. Rodgers knows which players he wants, but several issues are stopping them from completing deals right now.

Attacking midfielder Maddison has regularly been linked with a Tottenham switch. And pundit Frank McAvennie reckons the Englishman will want to leave the King Power, most likely for Spurs, if Leicester cannot match his ambition and resultantly fail to ‘challenge’.

“He’s a good player, but how many midfield players do they [Spurs] want,” McAvennie told Football Insider.

“They’ve already bought a few midfield players.

Pundit gives James Maddison thoughts

“I’m sure there will be a lot of players at Tottenham that [Antonio] Conte will be wanting to get out now to bring in players like that. Would Maddison want to go there? I don’t know.

“Leicester is a good team now, so he’ll be looking to Brendan Rodgers and wondering if he’ll be challenging this year or not, that would maybe be the only reason he’d move.

“But Maddison is a good player to go to any club. It would be a good team to get him in because he’s a good player.”

Maddison, 25, has been loyal to Leicester since joining from Norwich in July 2018. But the East Midlands outfit are showing signs of stagnation, which the player will not want.

Leicester star has thinking to do

The fact this is a World Cup year will give Maddison some serious thinking to do. On one hand, leaving for a club who are likely to be in the top four, such as Spurs, will do him good. It could result in Maddison finally adding to his sole England appearance.

On the flip side though, he may view changing clubs as a risk with the World Cup looming. Maddison is pretty much guaranteed a starting spot at Leicester, but this would not be the case under Conte at Spurs.

The playmaker will probably remain at Leicester for another year or two and see if the Foxes can get back to their best. If this doesn’t happen, then he may have to hand in a transfer request.

Meanwhile, Spurs are happy to use a squad outcast as part of ther bid to land Nicolo Zaniolo, according to 90Min.