James Maddison (now playing for Tottenham Hotspur)

[The Prophet]

9 hours ago, Ketsbaia said:

I'm fine with us not signing Maddison, as I'm not sure we were truly interested (otherwise Leicester would drag this into a bidding war). And he's not quite what we need.

 

But what does hurt is seeing him at Spurs, where he feels like such a good fit. An annoyingly ok price too, alongside a canny personality.

 

Let's hope they sell Kane and we have an elite player in mind    

 

If top five go into the Champions League, it'll be an aberration if 70 points isn't enough to qualify.

[Coco]

Next. He's a quality player and I'd have loved to see him here, but if he didn't want to join, move on. So much of our success recently is built on team chemistry, desire, and work ethic. Getting someone in who buys into that 100% is the priority. There are no shortage of options, and I trust Howe and Ashworth to make the right call. They've earned that trust.

[Dan Gleebals]

Let's lock this now, so sick of this thread!  Good luck to him,  no need for the bad blood.

As I have said before, not sure we were ever really that serious about him, if we were I am sure it would have been done.   It has been an easy story for the media to play out every fucking day, at least that will stop now.

Totally trust in our recruitment so lets sit back and see what suprise comes next. 
 

[TRon]

7 hours ago, Oregon_Geordie said:

This. I think Madison is a fantastic player.

But... going off the article about why EH wanted Tonali and emphasizing fluidity, I feel Madison is a little one-dimensional as a player. He's also pretty one-paced and not that mobile - in many ways, he's the anti-NUFC right now. That is just my view.

 

Hopefully, we go and buy an equally impressive player who may suit our style and shape a bit better. 40m is a good deal but still a lot for someone that doesn't naturally fit our formation.

 

Yeah one of my doubts about him was he doesn't look the quickest for a wide/AM. But he is quality on the ball so he could definitely work well in some set ups. Not convinced he'd work in ours though.

[Geordie Boyo]

would have been handy for corners with that neck, but time to move on - hopefully some news over the next couple of days in possibly szobiskiayihoudini what’s his name signing. 

[madras]

Bid made for Livramento, its all over the press, bid made for Barella, its all over the press, likewise Tonali. Maddison "linked with", "chasing", "monitoring" with no evidence we'd been in touch with the player or club since tast Summers bid was turned down.

 

I'm getting flash backs to school when I said some lass was nice and then it was put about the school I wanted to go out with her and I didn't. It was just so frustrating.

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

So she wasn’t nice? 

[madras]

1 minute ago, Shays Given Tim Flowers said:

So she wasn’t nice? 

She was, nice looking, nice personality, just didn't have that little extra that made me want to go further.

[TheBrownBottle]

39 minutes ago, Dan Gleebals said:

Let's lock this now, so sick of this thread!  Good luck to him,  no need for the bad blood.

As I have said before, not sure we were ever really that serious about him, if we were I am sure it would have been done.   It has been an easy story for the media to play out every fucking day, at least that will stop now.

Totally trust in our recruitment so lets sit back and see what suprise comes next. 
 

The same media who all predicted we’d sign Tonali, too.  Almost as if they don’t really know all that much …

[Slim]

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Liquidate Twitter. 

[RodneyCisse]

Tbf we’d be rinsing them if he’d signed with us.

 

Not fussed though, always felt like a player we’d be smitten over last season but not now.

[OCK]

Is that spurs top made from binbags?

[AyeDubbleYoo]

2 minutes ago, RodneyCisse said:

Tbf we’d be rinsing them if he’d signed with us.

 

Would you?

 

I honestly wouldn't give a second thought to any other club. 

 

It's harmless bantz like, I don't care if people find it fun. 

[Swissmag]

1 hour ago, Slim said:

Hell man :-)

 

[RodneyCisse]

1 hour ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Would you?

 

I honestly wouldn't give a second thought to any other club. 

 

It's harmless bantz like, I don't care if people find it fun. 

I wouldn’t but I know what our twitter fanbase is like.

[James]

I’m not that bothered as I can’t really see how he fits in.

 

right now I think Spurs are more likely to be relegated than get in to the Champions League.

[gbandit]

“Gonna win trophies together” creased

[Decky]

Can we lock this and move on? Honestly I can't be arsed with it being bumped constantly throughout the season every time he has a good game.  

[hakka]

5 minutes ago, Decky said:

Can we lock this and move on? Honestly I can't be arsed with it being bumped constantly throughout the season every time he has a good game.  

 

I think people need a for more days grieving to get the "didn't want him anyways" or "great player, guess Eddie thinks wages and fee is higher or we can do better elsewhere" stuff out our systems. 

[Thomson Mouse]

Good luck to him, I would be a bit concerned about those tweets he’s deleted though if I was a Spurs fan  

[OverThere]

46 minutes ago, Thomson Mouse said:

Good luck to him, I would be a bit concerned about those tweets he’s deleted though if I was a Spurs fan  

What was his beef with Spurs?

[Optimistic Nut]

Pleased Twitter wasn't about when I was 15-16 like. 

[TRon]

10 minutes ago, OverThere said:

What was his beef with Spurs?

 

It's a shit club unless they are paying you £195k a week.

[LFEE]

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 🙂