00:00As Tottenham look ahead to the summer transfer window, all eyes will be on James Maddison
00:08and his growing importance at Spurs. The midfielder has quickly become one of the club's key
00:14players since his move, contributing with goals, assists and undeniable creative spark.
00:19I spoke to James Trenbath about Maddison's impact at Tottenham with the summer window
00:24approaching. His role will be crucial in shaping Spurs' future plans. The club will be
00:29hoping to build around Maddison and his ability to dictate, play and influence matches has
00:34made him central to their attacking strategies. As Tottenham aim for a stronger push for European
00:40football in the future, keeping Maddison fit and firing will be vital. His importance cannot
00:46be overstated and Spurs will be relying on him to lead a charge in what could be a crucial
00:51summer for the club.
00:54Let's look at James Maddison. Coming in two seasons ago, he was fantastic. He definitely
01:01earned his move from that relegated Leicester side. Maybe confidence had knocked him with
01:06injuries and not being picked for the European Championships with England. That took a big
01:12effect on him as well. When he's playing for Spurs, Spurs look at a way more creative outfit
01:18going forward. They look overall at the better side completely. What sort of impact has Maddison
01:25had and how important is he in terms of the future and moving forward?
01:29I still think James Maddison is a crucial cog in the wheel. You can see, as you've just
01:34said there, Spurs are no doubt a better side when Maddison's in it. The creativity, ran
01:39the game against Alkmaar, really, really, really, really stepped up. Goals and assists
01:45wise this year, I think it's 18 goal involvements, 11 goals, 7 assists. He's still the talisman.
01:52He gets a lot of stick and I know he puts himself out there with the celebrations. He's
01:56quite flamboyant. He has gone missing at times this season, there's no doubt. His form's
02:01suffered but, again, he's been in and out of the team. He either starts games and doesn't
02:07finish or he doesn't start and he comes on for the last 20 minutes. His rhythm has been
02:12severely hampered, I guess you'd say. Whether he's carrying an injury, I don't know. Whether
02:18I'm just trying to protect him for the Europa League. He's now not got a game for 18 days
02:25but he can't turn out Thursday or Sunday because he was on the bench against Fulham. You can
02:30see we line up with the midfield of Benton, Kirby, Souma and Gray. There's not a shred
02:34of creativity in there. He's a lot picker. He's still a quality player, knows where the
02:39goal is. We need to be building the team around him because I still think he's got
02:44a heck of a lot to offer to Spurs. The numbers speak for themselves. When Andy had that really
02:49strong run at the start of last season, he was absolutely pivotal. The injury to him
02:53really, really knocked us. Has he quite been the same player since? Possibly not but he's
02:59certainly shown flashes and, certainly at the moment, he's getting no chance to build
03:02any rhythm which, again, you'd put down to the manager. I'm not sure. Is there something
03:07behind the scenes there? There was this publicly show lots of love and lots of mutual respect
03:13but he just feels odd and I just can't understand why he never gets through 90 minutes. So,
03:18again, question marks for me over Ange there but, certainly, Maddison, he's got a big future
03:24at Spurs and a little bit more quality around him and a proper system as well where you've
03:28not got the inverted full-back sat on top of him all the time. Give Maddison the space
03:32to operate, give him the keys to the pitch because you see the damage that he can do.
03:37The way he drops the shoulder, his movement, he's the eye for a pass, terrific on the dead
03:41ball and he knows where the goal is as well, as I say. So, we need to be giving him all
03:46the freedom we can, building the team around him. There's the nucleus there of a really,
03:51really strong side. It just needs augmenting with those key positions I've just outlined
03:58and some more leadership in that mix. Speaking of leaders, is Hung Min Song going to still
04:04be at Spurs next season? I know he's signed the contract extension but do Spurs look to cash in
04:10now? Is it a form issue? Is it the fact that he's getting on a bit, he's played a lot of football,
04:17still a quality player and he's shown flashes this season but is the time right for Song to
04:22move on? Should he get a big money offer from the likes of the MLS or Saudi Arabia, who knows?
04:28But as I say, the squad's not a million miles away and I still strongly believe that but the
04:35system, the set-up's just not working and we definitely need some players to help us there
04:40in terms of that augmentation, in terms of leadership and seeing the approach.
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