Newcastle United would be mad not to follow up their second bid for James Maddison | OneFootball

Anybody else watch Leicester City tear Nottingham Forest apart last night? It was a great game for the neutrals, extremely open and attacking.

Despite the scoreline, Forest could have had a few goals themselves and had a golden chance to open the scoring, but hit the post in a one-on-one with the keeper.

That missed chance led to them getting an absolute battering and Leicester looked like they could score with every attack.

Anyway, enough about that. I’m not a Leicester fan that has drunkenly posted an article on the wrong forum after spending the night celebrating deliriously at climbing off the bottom of the table.

The point of this article is about Newcastle United. Newcastle and a player that we made two bids for in the summer .

I, like many, was excited at the prospect of James Maddison playing in black and white.

He has been an outstanding performer for Leicester over the past few years. I think he is a class above any of our other midfield options to sit alongside Bruno and Joelinton.

If you did watch the game last night, I’m sure you’ll agree that Maddison absolutely ran the show. Yes, he got two goals. One of them was deflected wildly, the other a perfect free-kick, but his performance was about so much more than that. Every time he got the ball, he had Forest rattled. Playing out wide he was constantly jinking back and forth, turning defenders inside out, picking out delicate passes or precise lofted cross-field switches.

Sure, he was playing against a team that looks likely to fill one of the bottom three spots come the end of the season, but it was still a majestic performance. He finished the game top of most attacking measures. He was first for chances created with four, first for crosses with eight, joint first for assists with one and first for goals with two.

This is hardly a one off either. This season, despite Leicester’s troubles, James Maddison has been in outstanding form. He’s now averaging a goal or assist per game with five goals and two assists from his seven Premier League outings.

In fact, since the 11th of May (random date, I know, but it flashed up on Sky Sports) only the freak of nature that is Erling Haaland has more combined Premier League goals and assists than Maddison. Haaland sits top of that table with a ridiculous 17 (made more ridiculous by the fact that this is in eight games, whereas everyone else’s stats stretch back to the final games of last season). James Maddison shares second top with Kevin De Bruyne on 14, whilst Kane is next on 13. That’s the company he’s keeping and the form he’s in.

Last season was his best in a Leicester shirt. He scored 12 goals from midfield which would have made him our top scorer and was more than double what any of our players, barring Wilson, managed last season. On top of that he bagged eight assists, which is again more than any Newcastle player managed. ASM the best of our lot with five.

The fact he has started this season so well, despite the links away, speaks volumes about his attitude too. He never publicly stated that he wanted to move, or played any games to try and force a move, although sources close to Leicester indicated he was open to joining us. He seems like a focused, professional individual with an abundance of talent.

If we could only sign one player in January, I would focus our efforts on securing this guy. He’ll be into the last eighteen months of his contract so we’ll be in a stronger negotiating position than we were in the summer. If Leicester leave it until next summer their position becomes weaker again. With Tielemens likely to depart on a free / seriously cut-price deal, due to his contract expiring next summer, they’ll surely want to make a decent sum out of this pair. Tielemens himself would be a great signing, although out of the pair I’m leaning towards Maddison.

Another attacking winger would be welcomed but if it’s between James Maddison and an out and out winger, I’d take Maddison. He can actually play out there anyway as he did last night. If Wilson and Isak were injured and you had Wood up front, the big man could benefit from having both Maddison and Trippier whipping balls from the right.

Obviously, Maddison’s more comfortable in the centre of midfield and that would be his primary berth. I think he’s a better option than Willock or Longstaff and is an upgrade on Shelvey. In fact, he basically is Shelvey but with pace, trickery and enhanced dead ball technique. There may be some arguments on free-kicks if he came in but that’s a nice problem to have. I think Trippier would win that battle but it’s always nice to have another option, or a replacement taker if Tripps is out.

Turning 26 next month, Maddison needs his next move to be the right one. I wouldn’t be surprised if any club in the Premier League bar possibly Man City was interested in him. However, at sides like Chelsea and Arsenal, he would find it a tough battle to maintain a first-choice status. Look how many highly rated Englishmen have gone to Chelsea and faded into oblivion. When fit, I don’t think he’d have any issues getting into our team. Considering he’s only missed 19 games in four full Premier League seasons, it seems he’ll be fit a lot more often than not.

I think Leicester may have peaked now. They’ve got financial issues and those two years of just missing out on a Champions League spot has had a big impact on them. I don’t think there’s any chance of them going down but, considering our respective starts, I would be disappointed if we finished below them this season. Our star is rising whilst theirs wanes. This is the club for a player like James Maddison and I think Maddison is the player for a club like Newcastle United.