James Maddison has revealed a conversation with Ange Postecoglou over seeing a “different Tottenham team” convinced him to move to the club.
Maddison completed a £40million transfer to Spurs from Leicester on Wednesday, agreeing a five-year deal.
England international Maddison has gained plenty of admirers since joining Leicester in 2018 and Newcastle were among the clubs interested in his signature this summer, but it was a promise from new Tottenham manager Postecoglou which left a mark on the 26-year-old.
“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Maddison said in his first interview with club media.
“I feel I have a good understanding of Tottenham and now I’m a part of it, have this lovely white shirt on, and it feels brilliant. I am ready to go.
“Being a Spurs player now is something I’m very excited about. You come here and get a feel for the club, for the people.
“Speaking to the manager is very important. To have a decent chat with him and get his thoughts on how he sees Spurs going this season.
“He said, ‘whether you come or not, you’ll see a completely different Spurs team under me’, and it kind of stuck with me that he said that. It made me think that is the self belief I have in myself.
“I spoke to Daniel (Levy) as well and they both spoke very highly of everything about the club, about me and things like that are so important. Building a good relationship with him, with Daniel, speaking to other players.
“Obviously I know a lot of the lads anyway and have played against them for many years. Myself, my agent, my family, we’re all really happy with the decision and I can’t wait to get going.”
Spurs have been long-term admirers of the 26-year-old.
Ex-Tottenham boss David Pleat recommended Maddison to chairman Levy when the playmaker was still a teenager at Coventry, but no move was able to materialise and he instead joined Norwich.
Spurs’ interest and desire to eventually sign Maddison never waned with his time at Leicester only serving to highlight he was one of the most creative players in England.
During five largely successful years with the Foxes, who won the 2021 FA Cup, Maddison made 203 appearances, scored 55 goals and produced 41 assists.
Maddison’s creativity and versatility will boost a Spurs squad that has lacked a player in his mould since Christian Eriksen left in 2020.
He added: “Christian was one of my favourite players when I was growing up, especially in the lower-leagues.
“When he was in hot form for Tottenham, wearing the iconic number 23, Eriksen was someone who would produce quality moments for this football club. To swap shirts with a player like that, of his ilk, was very special.”
While Maddison has made the move from the King Power Stadium to Tottenham, Harry Winks is set to go the other way, the PA news agency understands.
Spurs have agreed a £10m deal with Leicester for Winks, who spent the 2022-23 season on loan at Sampdoria.
Winks, 27, had been a regular at Tottenham under Mauricio Pochettino, but fell out of favour during the tenures of Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte.
Academy graduate Winks headed to Italy last summer in search of first-team football and his transfer to Leicester will not be announced until later this week, with his loan spell at Sampdoria not officially ending until Friday.
New boss Postecoglou is set to cast his eye over the rest of the squad – with Tottenham’s non-internationals reporting to Hotspur Way on Saturday – before any further decisions are made on outgoings.
Spurs’ focus has turned to bringing in reinforcements in central defence.
Tottenham have an interest in Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba and Wolfsburg centre-back Micky van de Ven, but no approach has been made for either yet, PA understands.
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
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