Why Tottenham walked away from James Maddison deal | OneFootball

James Maddison is set to face Tottenham this weekend when his Leicester host the north London club on Saturday evening.

But it could have been very different for the 22-year-old midfielder.

That’s because Spurs actually almost signed Maddison back in 2015 only to walk away from the €400,000 move.

Three years ago Maddison was starring for Coventry in League One with former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp recommending him to the club.

The White Hart Lane side were in pole position to land the then teenage sensation, but eventually rejected the signing with chairman Daniel Levy wanting to move away from buying young talent in the lower leagues.

That had always been Tottenham’s policy, with the likes of Gareth Bale, Kyle Waker and Dele Alli all joining from the Football League.

But unfortunately for Maddison, he was a tad too late to the party, with the summer of 2015 being the turning point for Spurs and their policy of looking for more established names.

Maddison himself eventually went to Norwich before signing for Leicester earlier this year in a deal worth €25m.

He’s now firmly established as a genuine Premier League talent and earned his first England call-up in November.