Norwich City and Leicester City stole Coventry's millions with £2.5m man who is now a European champion | OneFootball

James Maddison left Coventry for £2.5m, and Norwich and Leicester cashed in big while Coventry missed out on millions.

James Maddison's rise to the top of European football has brought pride to his hometown club, Coventry City, but also a fair bit of financial regret.

In January 2016, Coventry sold their academy star graduate to Norwich City for just £2.5 million.

Nearly a decade later, that same player has become a Champions League qualifier with Tottenham and a Europa League champion, while two clubs in Norwich and Leicester City raked in serious cash along the way.

From Coventry to Carrow Road - the first step in a lucrative ladder

Maddison, a creative midfielder born and raised in Coventry, burst onto the scene with the Sky Blues in 2014.

But just two years later, he was snapped up by Norwich for a modest £2.5 million fee in a deal that saw him loaned back to Coventry before heading north to Aberdeen for development.

By the 2017/18 season, Maddison had returned to Norfolk and was setting the Championship alight.

Despite Norwich finishing 14th, the then-21-year-old racked up 14 goals and eight assists in 44 appearances, earning Player of the Season honours, PFA and EFL Team of the Season spots, and a nomination for EFL Young Player of the Year.

The £2.5 million gamble from Norwich looked like a stroke of genius.

Leicester City's big money move — and Coventry City's missed windfall

In summer 2018, Premier League side Leicester City swooped in with a £20 million offer that Norwich couldn’t refuse. Just two years after Coventry had let him go for a fraction of that, the Foxes made Maddison their Riyad Mahrez replacement, and watched him blossom.

The playmaker contributed a total of seven goals and seven assists in his first top-flight campaign as Leicester went on to finish ninth under Brendan Rodgers.

And he continued to go from strength to strength under Rogers, with Maddison flourishing as the Foxes finished in fifth place in successive Premier League seasons.

Across five Premier League seasons, the midfielder scored 43 goals in all competitions and regularly featured in England discussions. In 2022, he was even selected for the World Cup squad in Qatar.

Leicester made the most of Maddison’s peak years, but following their shock relegation in 2023, Tottenham Hotspur came calling with a £40 million offer.

A European champion at Spurs - and Coventry City still watching

Making the switch to Tottenham in the summer of 2023 for a £40 million fee, Maddison has since played a big part in the club's return to the Champions League as a result of their Europa League triumph, with the midfielder scoring three and assisting three on the way to the final in Bilbao.

That triumph earned the North London side a spot in the Champions League and marked the crowning achievement (so far) in Maddison’s career.

And while Coventry may take pride in launching the midfielder’s journey, it’s impossible to ignore the sting - a £2.5 million fee for a player who later commanded nearly £60 million in total transfer value. Coventry were simply spectators as both Norwich and Leicester reaped the millions.

A cautionary tale for selling clubs

James Maddison's career arc is a case study in spotting and profiting from untapped talent. Norwich and Leicester timed their moves to perfection, buying low and selling high, while Coventry settled for a modest fee and a pat on the back.

Lower league clubs - which Coventry were at the time - often struggle to retain prized young talent when bigger outfits come calling, and there are many similar cases to this one with Maddison. The Sky Blues, mind you, must only wonder what might have been if they had kept hold of the playmaker for even another year or two - a much more handsome windfall would have arrived, you can imagine.