Jamie Carragher has suggested a reason why Manchester City didn’t sign James Maddison during the previous summer transfer window.
After spending five years with Leicester City, the 26-year-old joined Tottenham Hotspur back in June in a deal worth a reported fee of £40m.
With the Englishman enjoying his first few weeks of Premier League action with the Lilywhites, one pundit has weighed in on why other top-flight clubs weren’t vying for his signature prior to his move to the north London club.
Carragher assesses why City didn’t sign Maddison
Written in a recent column for The Telegraph, Carragher had this to say about Maddison and why other Premier League clubs, including City, didn’t sign him over the summer.
He said: “His throwback style extends to his on-field role. With the utmost respect to Maddison and Spurs, it explains why his options during the summer did not include Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.
“I have no doubt all watched him for Leicester and at some point over the last three years considered signing him. The reason they said no is because Maddison’s most effective position is unfashionable for elite coaches.”
Since joining Spurs, Maddison has scored two goals and delivered four assists in six Premier League appearances for Ange Postecoglou’s side, winning the Premier League’s Player of the Month Award for August.
With the England international playing all six of his top-flight games for Spurs in an attacking-midfield position, it could be the fact that City already have numerous players in their squad that can play that role at their disposal and that they may not have been able to give Maddison regular game time.
Even though it’s hard to deny that the former Leicester star has been very impressive for Spurs so far this season, we feel that Pep Guardiola will be satisfied with the players in his squad at the moment and may not be too disheartened about not having Maddison in his ranks.
