Ange Postecoglou wants 26-year-old to be one of Tottenham’s leaders

Ange Postecoglou has admitted that he was delighted that Tottenham were able to get James Maddison and backed the attacking midfielder to be one of the leaders in the Spurs dressing room.

It was reported just days after Postecoglou had taken over as Spurs’ new head coach that the Australian had earmarked Maddison as a priority target (Telegraph).

The Lilywhites were able to strike a deal worth £40m with Leicester City for the 26-year-old, with many media outlets viewing the transfer as the bargain of the summer so far (Daily Mail).

In his first interview with Tottenham’s official channel, Maddison admitted that his conversation with Postecoglou had a big impact on his decision to make the switch to N17.

“I feel a hunger about the place,” he told the official Tottenham website. “You come here, and you get a feel for the club and the people, everything about it, and it feels brilliant. Like I said, I’m very happy and can’t wait to get going.

“I spoke to the manager, spoke to [chairman] Daniel [Levy] and they both spoke very highly of everything about the club.

“Speaking to the manager was very important, how he’s going to be, with that little bit of the unknown, so to have a decent chat with him and to get his thoughts on things, how he sees Spurs going this season… he said one thing to me on the call, I hope he won’t mind me saying this, but he said, ‘whether you come or not, you’re going to see a completely different Spurs team under me’, and that kind of stuck with me that he said that.

“Things like that are so important, building a good relationship with him, with Daniel, speaking to other players, obviously, I know a lot of them anyway, and playing against them for so many years, I feel like I have such a good understanding with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and now I’m part of it, and I have this lovely white shirt on, I’m ready to go.”

The 56-year-old has now explained that Tottenham needed more goals from midfield and he saw the former Foxes star as the perfect man to provide that.

Postecoglou wants James Maddison in leadership role

Postecoglou told Football.London about Maddison’s arrival: “I’m really excited to get him as part of the group. Any manager will tell you that part of the key to being a dominant team is having multiple attacking threats and having a midfielder who can score and create goals, they’re not easy to come by. He’s proven himself at that level in the last few years, as somebody who can do that.

“When you look at Tottenham the last few years, they’ve been really reliant on the front three to get their goals. I thought it was a really good fit for us to look for a player like James – even better if we could get James. So we ended up getting James. I was really pleased and the fact that we did it early was great because it allows him to have a break.”

The Tottenham head coach added that the attacking midfielder is excited to join the group, and backed him to take up a leadership role, given the experience he now has under his belt.

Postecoglou continued: “He’s had the birth of twins so I don’t know what shape he’ll be in when he gets here! But once we get him in, it means he can come on the tour with us and I know he’s really excited about joining the group.

“He obviously knows a few of the lads and I think he’s in a stage of his career where it feels like he can be a leader, which is great as well because we need players who want to embrace that responsibility within this group, whether it’s their first year in or they’ve been here for ages. We’re going to need leadership on the field and he feels like he can be a player who does that.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It is clear from Postecoglou‘s words that Maddison was his number one target and the club deserve credit for not only delivering the signing but managing to do it so early in the window so that the 26-year-old can have a full pre-season under the Australian and his coaching staff.

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