James Maddison has had rotten luck with injuries over the past 18 months but in glimpses this season has shown just how important he is to Tottenham Hotspur.
Maddison made his first start in 17 months against old club Coventry back in October, having sustained successive knee injuries. Since then, he’s featured just once and been an unused sub for Spurs’ past two games.
There’s no doubting his quality, but manager Roberto De Zerbi must be itching to get him back fully fit and re-integrated as Spurs look to push on this season after embarrassing, back-to-back 17th-placed finishes in the Premier League.
Alan Hutton, a former Spurs defender, believes Maddison represents a “luxury” option for De Zerbi.
“Maddison might be seen as a luxury for Spurs – I must admit I like him,” Hutton, who was at Tottenham between 2008 and 2011, said.
“I think the question mark above his head is whether he’s robust enough, can he play multiple games in a week? It has been a problem for him lately. But I do feel that he links the game really well between midfield and attack. He’s very clever, he picks up good spaces, he can find that killer pass, and he can score goals.
“But it’s staying fit, that’s the big thing for him. If he can get a run of games, I think we’ll see the best of him. That’s just the main problem for him at this moment in time.”
On Spurs as a whole, Hutton believes goalscoring is a major problem. Only two teams have netted less than them this term so far.
Hutton added: “I think scoring goals has been a problem for them for a while, it isn’t just this season.
“You look at the options up front, yes, they’ve got talented players out on the wings, and of course you’ve got (Dominic) Solanke, I just don’t know if they’ve got that guy that’s going to score you 20 goals a season.
“I just haven’t seen it yet. Yes, they’ve got quality, but I think they need more goals from different areas as well, like attacking midfield and the wide players. Midfield needs to chip in as well, but they need that main striker. I think that’s always been what’s lacking a little bit in previous seasons as well. So if they can get that right and get somebody to kind of fill that void, I think that takes them to the next level.”
*Hutton was speaking in association with OLBG, who offer the best betting sites
