Tottenham Hotspur need the infectious joy of James Maddison – his new injury is a big blow for Roberto De Zerbi
Tottenham Hotspur supporters have become accustomed to the nervous wait for injury news. There aren’t many places in football where the words ‘scan this week’ are more feared.
Spurs are crossed their fingers and thumbs that attacking midfielder James Maddison will be back from his latest injury setback rather faster than usual. In these Kaneless, Son-free years, they need a spark more than ever.
Before Maddison’s early withdrawal against Chelsea, he starred in his first Premier League start for more than 500 days. The 29-year-old scored a brilliant opening goal in Spurs’ 3-1 win over boyhood club Coventry City. It was liquid Maddison.
James Maddison has a swagger Tottenham Hotspur can’t match without him
Spurs’ fresh start after dodging the drop under Roberto De Zerbi took some time to get going but they’re gradually finding their feet.
First came the goals, then the wins. Dejan Kulusevski’s return against Coventry is no coincidence but Maddison’s availability, brief though it was, gave Spurs a major boost. He’s a difference-maker and a wildcard, a player with that extra something special.
Maddison’s fabulous strike against the Sky Blues was a reminder of just one of the strings to his bow. He’s blessed with a natural charisma, a swagger, that courses through his game.
Attitude is the basis for Maddison’s creativity and impact. He’s a player for blockbuster moments and big matches, a talented damage-doer with an eye for the spectacular and an appetite for the attention and adulation that come with it.
It’s easy to forget that Maddison, fit and in full flow, is one of England’s foremost maverick midfielders. Football needs players like Maddison, like Jack Grealish, who play the game their way and on their terms without shunning their tactical responsibilities.
Maddison is into his leadership years. He’s a senior player for De Zerbi by any definition. Crucially, these are all characteristics Spurs at their worst have been lacking too. They need Maddison not only for what he can do, but for what he can mean.
Football is supposed to be fun. Players who deliver on that at the same time as being effective are worth their weight in gold to their teams and to the game as a whole. They are football’s great entertainers.
Rare is the team that thrives in unrepentant functionalism. For most, a little magic is a must. That’s what Spurs miss when Maddison is sidelined and injuries are affecting his prime.
Injuries are threatening to spike Maddison’s prime
Coventry-born Maddison has had star quality from the beginning, first with the Sky Blues and then with Norwich City. Loan spells back at Coventry and with Aberdeen were followed by a move to the Premier League and Leicester City, where he won the FA Cup and began what has, until now, proved a sadly meagre England career.
Injuries have been a sad reality of his career since he joined Spurs. His first season was interrupted when he missed the whole of December and most of November and January. In 2024/25, he sat out for a couple of weeks in the winter and then suffered a knee injury that knocked his pre-season off kilter.
Last season was a write-off because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament and Maddison’s 2026/27 has already been tripped up by two different injuries.
Spurs and their spark are back in scan purgatory. De Zerbi will be asked about Maddison in pre-match press conferences again. Supporters will see his name when team news is updated, and the player faces yet more days on the outside looking in while his teammates labour without the very skills he provides.
He went off early in the second half at Stamford Bridge, replaced by Conor Gallagher.
On that occasion it was the Blues who imploded. Stand-in goalkeeper Mike Penders punched the ball into his own net to give Spurs the lead before Cole Palmer, in some ways the inheritor of the unpredictable England artist role that might have been Maddison’s, finally got himself sent off.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, those three points don’t detract from the fact that Spurs are a better, more potent, more entertaining team for Maddison’s involvement.
They’re in a nice groove after two wins in a row but getting Maddison back – again – would give them another lift as they strive to put the last two Premier League seasons behind them once and for all.
