Spurs want to sign big-money Maddison replacement who’s like Bellingham

Tottenham proceed to puzzle us. Tottenham proceed to frustrate. That is all the time the way in which, is not it?

Nevertheless, below Ange Postecoglou there was a flirtation with enchancment. Nobody can deny that Spurs play thrilling soccer however their outcomes have been removed from constant, mainly in 2024/25.

At instances, the north Londoners have appeared like world beaters. They beat Manchester Metropolis and Aston Villa in the identical week, solely to style defeat towards Galatasaray after which much more worryingly towards Ipswich City.

The Tractor Boys and Crystal Palace picked up their first wins of the marketing campaign towards Spurs which has ruined any progress Postecoglou had achieved within the opening weeks of the season.

Strain is mounting and it’ll proceed to take action the longer Spurs do not look as if Champions League soccer can be inbound.

As a lot as Brennan Johnson has performed like a person possessed this time period, scoring seven goals, and Heung-min Son’s return to health can be a game-changer, there have been some notable underperformers who aren’t serving to issues.

A kind of is £40m man James Maddison.

James Maddison’s time at Spurs in numbers

The arrival of Maddison in the summertime of 2023 was an thrilling one. After Leicester had been relegated an entire host of top-flight golf equipment had taken an curiosity within the Englishman and understandably so.

The previous Coventry man had scored ten goals and supplied nine assists in all competitions for the Foxes. Arriving at Spurs, the primary few months of his time within the capital was significantly spectacular.

He started the 2023/24 marketing campaign with three goals and five assists in his opening 11 league matches earlier than harm derailed a promising begin. Since then, Maddison has struggled to duplicate these performances.

The 27-year-old scored only one for the rest of the season after returning in January and in 2024/25, has flattered to deceive.

Finally, Spurs look higher when he isn’t beginning. The attacking midfielder might have scored three goals this season however their 4-1 win over West Ham a couple of weeks in the past was proof that they might not want him to be at their finest.

Maddison was withdrawn at half-time with the rating 1-1 earlier than Spurs scored three with out him on the pitch. Since then, he began within the defeat to Palace after which started the video games with Aston Villa and Ipswich on the bench.

The ultimate straw for Postecoglou might properly have been the loss in Turkey to Galatasaray the place Football.London reporter Alasdair Gold handed him a 4/10 match ranking and wrote that it ‘wasn’t the efficiency to indicate that he ought to be beginning’.

So, the place do Spurs go from right here? Doubtlessly a substitute within the switch market?

Spurs’ potential James Maddison substitute

It stays to be seen what Tottenham’s precedence within the January switch window is however stories have already emerged suggesting {that a} fairly penny could possibly be spent on the signing of a brand new midfielder.

That is according to journalist Christian Falk who reported this weekend that Spurs are battling fierce rivals Arsenal for the signing of Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Larsson. Liverpool are additionally displaying curiosity and in accordance with prior stories, he could cost in the region of £70m.

So, who’s Larsson and what may he supply the Lilywhites? Nicely, in the mean time, the 20-year-old is extra of a holding midfield participant, somebody able to dictating play from deep. He has registered 1.48 interceptions per 90 minutes, sufficient to rank him among the many high 17% of positionally related gamers in Europe’s high 5 leagues.

We all know he can break up the play however what does he supply that makes him such a high-quality Maddison substitute? Nicely, as information analyst Ben Mattinson suggests, Larsson is “very similar to [Jude] Bellingham”.

Why? The teenager stands at a tall 6 foot 2 and like Bellingham, possesses rangy strides that might make him the proper profile of participant to function as a box-to-box midfielder, somebody able to making late runs into the field to attain objectives.

Because it occurs, regardless of taking part in deeper within the Frankfurt facet, the Swede is already starting to indicate indicators of being a participant who can rating objectives.

He has scored as many as Maddison this term (3) and ranks extremely amongst midfielders in Europe’s high 5 leagues for loads of attacking metrics.

Larsson’s finest attacking metrics
Stat (per 90 minutes)	#	Rating
Targets	0.17	Prime 85%
Pictures heading in the right direction %	45.5%	Prime 4%
Targets per shot	0.36	Prime 99%
Targets per shot heading in the right direction	0.80	Prime 98%
Stats via FBRef (rank in comparison with CMs in Europe)

Based mostly on the numbers above, there may be definitely a cause to imagine that as Larsson grows older, he may function fairly prominently in an attacking position as Maddison has finished over the previous few years.

Spurs have already got quite a few high younger gamers – mainly Mikey Moore and Lucas Bergvall – however the Frankfurt ace would sit very properly alongside them over time to come back.