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James Maddison (now playing for Tottenham Hotspur)

The Prophet

by The Prophet
in Football

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gjohnson

gjohnson

Posted
Posted

Well balls to him. He's gone to Spurs. Good for him. We've got Tonali instead who could end up better or worse, but we are probably better off without an walking ego who is a good player but not as good as he thinks he is

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rebelrouser

rebelrouser

Posted
Posted
46 minutes ago, LFEE said:

I honestly believe we will be stronger without him.

I think he would have helped improve our scoring and made the team better. I guess the 170,000 a week salary and his desire to move to London sank the deal. I wish we could have at least pushed the price up some before Spurs got him.  

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Skeletor

Skeletor

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rebelrouser said:

I think he would have helped improve our scoring and made the team better. I guess the 170,000 a week salary and his desire to move to London sank the deal. I wish we could have at least pushed the price up some before Spurs got him.  

 

Time to start being shithouses in the transfer market as well. Hold the transfer hostage with a fee higher than Spurs can pay and let it sit in limbo for the rest of the window to stop them getting him.

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ExiledGeordie

ExiledGeordie

Posted
Posted (edited)
17 hours ago, rebelrouser said:

I think he would have helped improve our scoring and made the team better. I guess the 170,000 a week salary and his desire to move to London sank the deal. I wish we could have at least pushed the price up some before Spurs got him.  


I think Tonali’s availability clearly changed things. They could see the huge impact he could have on midfield to help Bruno, control games and provide depth. He’s a proper player. I think they liked Maddison clearly but he dropped down in terms of priority with Tonali coming into play. We werent going to pay those wages and there was probably some doubts about fitting into our style of play. Tonali will allow Bruno to have more influence further up the pitch as well as offering options on set pieces etc. We still have ASM currently, Gordon will be fitter and stronger next season and we’ll undoubtedly still sign at least one attacker/winger this window probably for that right of 3 spot. We do still need more creativity and a Diaby type player would be more beneficial for us I think.

Maddison is an excellent player but it’s probably taken it’s natural course in the end with him ending up at Spurs.


 

 

 

 

Edited by ExiledGeordie

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Doctor Zaius

Doctor Zaius

Posted
Posted

I would like to know whether we were actually in for him or not. It was too widely reported that he wanted to go to Spurs rather than here for it not to be true imo. Whether we wanted him and then backed out because he didnt want to come or whether we never made a serious approach for him in the first place. I was completely undecided about him as a player. Will be keeping a keen eye on him at Spurs.

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LFEE

LFEE

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Doctor Zaius said:

I would like to know whether we were actually in for him or not. It was too widely reported that he wanted to go to Spurs rather than here for it not to be true imo. Whether we wanted him and then backed out because he didnt want to come or whether we never made a serious approach for him in the first place. I was completely undecided about him as a player. Will be keeping a keen eye on him at Spurs.

We’ll never know for sure but if you read my summary in this thread posted yesterday i feel it explains fairly simply what went on. Certainly had no one arguing against it.

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TheBrownBottle

TheBrownBottle

Posted
Posted
On 29/06/2023 at 22:41, LFEE said:

My summary of all this is Maddison could see the writing on the wall at Leicester and kicked is agent into gear. The agent falsely informed us there was a bargain to be had at around £29m if I recall. At that time we probably in all honesty like 99% of fans expect ourselves to finish 4th. No doubt a quiet aim for Europe in some shape but not top 4. So with that in mind Maddison at that price would be a very sensibly priced transitional player that could push us close to top 4 quicker in the coming seasons. 
 

The first bid/enquiry went in at around £30m and with more agent encouragement possibly a second one went in maxing out at £35m+£5m. At that point it became apparent it was nowhere near enough and the agent was playing games to create interest in his client and media were being misled also. We decided to just monitor the situation and revisit when he only had 12 months on his contract. Meanwhile however without him our progress had been unexpectedly much greater than expected finishing top 4 and therefore giving us not only a bit more financial pull but the ability to attract players only wanting to take the risk if we had ECL on offer to help us sustain our new found success. In short players we deemed better than Maddison medium & long term.
 

That is when I believe the reality on how much we actually rated Maddison and his style of play and what he would bring but also lose from our current style of play kicked in. Hence the term “nice luxury” that was used by journalists the other day. If the deal was £30m mark and his wages which must’ve originally fitted into our structure via his agent were correct then we were happy to risk making the deal and see if it worked out and if it didn’t then probably confident after a sale little money would’ve been wasted.

 

The truth as I see it was very different and the agent has used us to draw out interest in a preferred southern destination which was achieved with Spurs despite Arsenal being his preferred choice. The problem for Maddison has been within those 12 months NUFC are the ECL team not Spurs leaving him a decision between lifestyle and sporting. We’ve made it clear we weren’t prepared to wait for ever and whilst pondering the decision Spurs will of realised they are the only show in town in theory as our patience had been tested and be able to get Leicester down from £60m to £40m if they upped their wage offer to Maddison to such an extent his decision was lifestyle and gamble on them swapping places with us in 12 months. So in theory the money saved by Spurs avoiding any bidding war they’ve redirected into Maddison’s salary.

 

So really everyone’s a winner as Spurs have their managers priority target and takes a bit heat out of no doubt a Kane transfer saga. We were interested to a point but we surpassed that ourselves without him and have secured a younger more suited if unproven in the league player for a total package far cheaper than Maddison’s with the added benefit of no change in our wage structure and need to renegotiate more squad members on to higher contracts. So the savings almost unquantifiable over the coming few years.

 

I think the only losers are those on here who thought he was a primary target and thought it was pretty much a done deal or no brainer he’d choose us over Spurs.

 

I’ve no doubt the lad will get booed by large elements of our fanbase whenever he faces us which is all part of the circus and theatre of football but TBH I wouldn’t give him the recognition or the time of day. I honestly believe we will be stronger without him. Just glad it’s over and I can come down from my hill alive ?

 

 

 

 

Spot on for me ?

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Stottie

Stottie

Posted
Posted
On 29/06/2023 at 21:41, LFEE said:

My summary of all this is Maddison could see the writing on the wall at Leicester and kicked is agent into gear. The agent falsely informed us there was a bargain to be had at around £29m if I recall. At that time we probably in all honesty like 99% of fans expect ourselves to finish 4th. No doubt a quiet aim for Europe in some shape but not top 4. So with that in mind Maddison at that price would be a very sensibly priced transitional player that could push us close to top 4 quicker in the coming seasons. 

Great summary. I doubt anyone foresaw relegation, but it was clear in summer 22 that Leicester were only going backwards, with Schmiechel (sp?) going and not being replaced and no money for signings at all. Fair play to Maddison and his people for being the first to try and jump ship, regardless of how serious they were in inviting us to bid. fwiw, I reckon a Maddison for cash and Dubravak deal in summer 22 would have kept them up. A season of decent goalkeeping would have done more for them than Maddison's (very good) contribution.

 

As its worked out, Tielemans, Rodgers and now Maddison have got out with their reputations mostly intact. It's a waste though and a team with Leicester's squad shouldn't have been relegated. The Champo is not a pushover and there is no guarantee they'll come back up.  There's a good chance some of their players won't have relegation contracts and will remain on Prem wages.

 

Isak, Tonali and Gordon even prove we can go big for players we want badly enough. It just can't have been the case here.

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foxghost

foxghost

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Stottie said:

Great summary. I doubt anyone foresaw relegation, but it was clear in summer 22 that Leicester were only going backwards, with Schmiechel (sp?) going and not being replaced and no money for signings at all. Fair play to Maddison and his people for being the first to try and jump ship, regardless of how serious they were in inviting us to bid. fwiw, I reckon a Maddison for cash and Dubravak deal in summer 22 would have kept them up. A season of decent goalkeeping would have done more for them than Maddison's (very good) contribution.

 

As its worked out, Tielemans, Rodgers and now Maddison have got out with their reputations mostly intact. It's a waste though and a team with Leicester's squad shouldn't have been relegated. The Champo is not a pushover and there is no guarantee they'll come back up.  There's a good chance some of their players won't have relegation contracts and will remain on Prem wages.

 

Isak, Tonali and Gordon even prove we can go big for players we want badly enough. It just can't have been the case here.

 

The situation has eased a lot, Leicester have released a lot of players whose contracts have expired, including Tielemans and Evans (unconfirmed). Other top earning players like Maddison and Barnes are being sold on. Very likely that players we bought in the last season like Faes or Souttar will have relegation contracts.

Your point about the Championship is spot on, and I'm amazed at some of the entitlement of the Foxes fan base. Apparently we're going to storm the division, despite losing most of our players and a complete overhaul of coaching staff. We may turn things around, but it's going to be pretty shaky to start with, and our new purchases all have to be spot on. The season tickets got all snapped up within hours, so at least we can attract and pay the new recruits.

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Stottie

Stottie

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Posted

Thanks for the reply. Leicester have provided some great entertainment in recent seasons and I wish you well. It was ultimately deserved but I'm still surprised you were relegated. That has to be one of the strongest squads to go down.

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