Former scout David Pleat has revealed how Tottenham could have signed James Maddison as a 16-year-old.
Tottenham forked out £40 million to sign James Maddison from Leicester City last summer. The English attacking midfielder managed to establish himself as one of the mainstays at the North London club in no time.
The 27-year-old has been an exceptional signing for Spurs. While Ange Postecoglou’s team haven’t had the best of starts to the new season, Maddison is already off and running with two assists in three league outings.
While Tottenham fans are in love with Maddison, they could have signed him for a much lower fee back when he was just a teenager. Former Tottenham scout David Pleat has revealed that the club were £40 million too late in signing the English international. They could have acquired his services back when he was 16 and was a part of the Coventry City setup.
During an interview with The Athletic, the former Spurs scout said: “The boy Maddison was so good it was like he had eyes in the back of his head. I went into Tottenham the following morning and said ‘There’s a boy at Coventry we should sign tomorrow’ It was an open goal. A tortoise couldn’t have gone slower. They didn’t chase it.”
Pleat saw him play as a teenager during his time at Coventry and was quite impressed with his abilities. He went to the Spurs chief’s the next morning and asked them to sign him. But they were too slow to react and missed out on the opportunity. Almost a decade later, they forked out £40 million to add him to their squad.
With 11 assists and four goals in his 33 outings for Tottenham, Maddison has been quite an effective signing for them. But they could have added him to their squad for a much lower fee quite early in his career. While they did miss out on quite a few young talents back in the day, the North London club have been actively pushing to sign young players with huge potential since the arrival of Ange Postecoglou at the club.
