How Tottenham Hotspur could line up with James Maddison

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 29 June 2023

Sports Mole takes a look at how Tottenham Hotspur could line up with James Maddison following his £40m arrival from Leicester City.

Tottenham Hotspur welcomed signing number three of the summer transfer window through the door on Wednesday evening, as James Maddison's arrival from Leicester City was announced.

The England international has joined for an initial £40m on a five-year deal and adds a dash of creativity to a Lilywhites side who were crying out for innovation during Antonio Conte's tumultuous reign.

Maddison - who came up with 10 goals and nine assists in 30 Premier League games during Leicester City's doomed 2022-23 season - follows Guglielmo Vicario and Dejan Kulusevski to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the Ange Postecoglou revolution begins to take shape, and one can be sure that the 26-year-old will immediately establish himself as a regular starter.

Here, Sports Mole takes a look at how Tottenham could line up with Maddison in the first XI.

TOT XI w/MAD

While Maddison would happily strut his stuff anywhere across the forward line - even being used as a second striker on a couple of occasions - the Englishman should no doubt take his place on the left-hand side of Postecoglou's anticipated midfield trident.

The former Celtic and Australia boss is expected to stray away from Conte's preferred 3-4-3 setup in favour of an attack-minded 4-3-3, in which Maddison would operate as the most advanced lynchpin, but the ex-Leicester man could also be deployed in a left-wing position should Son Heung-min be absent for any reason.

Son thrived off the bench on a few occasions last season, but the South Korea attacker should maintain his regular starting role for now, as Kulusevski immediately comes back in on the right after his loan move from Juventus was converted into a permanent deal.

With Maddison taking on creator-in-chief duties, Harry Kane will not come under so much pressure to drop deep and fashion chances for his teammates - as has been the case for the past couple of years - and Daniel Levy remains steadfast in his stance that the striker will not be sold this summer.

As a result, Kane leading the line for Tottenham in 2023-24 cannot be ruled out, while a fit-again Rodrigo Bentancur - who is hopeful of returning by the end of August at the earliest - and Yves Bissouma could accompany Maddison in the engine room, with the latter sitting the deepest.

Destiny Udogie can feel optimistic of coming straight in on the left-hand side, while Pedro Porro will likely oust Emerson Royal as Tottenham's first-choice right-back from next term, but both players must quickly become accustomed to playing as out-and-out full-backs rather than wing-backs; Udogie would normally take up such a position in Udinese's 3-5-2.

Tottenham are working to bolster their central defensive ranks amid speculation over a permanent deal for Clement Lenglet or swoop for Wolfsburg's Micky van de Ven, but Cristian Romero and Eric Dier appear to be Postecoglou's first picks for now.

Whichever centre-half pairing begins the season for Tottenham can expect to shield Vicario, who could wrestle the gloves off of Hugo Lloris regardless of what happens with the Frenchman's future in the coming weeks.