Pundit explains why he would take Tottenham Hotspur’s James Maddison over Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard
Jermain Jenas is adamant that he will take Tottenham Hotspur’s James Maddison in his team over Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard.
The England international finally joined Spurs in the recently-concluded summer transfer window for a fee of £40million from the relegated Leicester City. The excitement of his arrival was soon doused by Harry Kane’s exit.
But Maddison is one of the key reasons Spurs fans are finally starting to come to terms with Kane’s move to Bayern Munich. At one point, Kane was our chief creator alongside being our talisman in front of goal.
Instead of taking time and going into hiding on the pitch to adjust to a new team and evade criticism, Maddison has taken the challenge head-on. He is the club’s vice-captain and has shown why he is so trusted by Ange Postecoglou with his performances on the pitch.
The 26-year-old has arguably boosted Tottenham’s title chances on his own. Sure, Son Heung-min, Cristian Romero, and Dejan Kulusevski are all important, but Maddison’s displays have given fans hope that their team has a genuine world-class superstar in the final third again.
This is why Jenas would choose him over Odegaard in his team. He told TNT Sports, via Eurosport:
“I was having this discussion recently with an Arsenal fan around Odegaard and James Maddison. The guy said ‘you would always take Odegaard over Maddison’ and I’m like – ‘why?’ I’m not that convinced by it. Odegaard is a special talent, so is James Maddison.
“It’s more to do with how he [Maddison] has transformed a team on his own. “That’s the biggest fear for Spurs, Maddison’s fitness and maintaining that all year, because you take him out of that team, it looks totally different.”
Odegaard is a world-class player on his own. Becoming Arsenal’s captain and recording 15 goals and eight assists in 37 league games last season is no joke at 24.
But Maddison is becoming a superstar at Tottenham — their main man up front. Arsenal still have the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Gabriel Jesus who take a huge chunk of the spotlight away from him.
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But Maddison arguably only has Son here of that stature alongside him. Richarlison and Deki are brilliant but they are still underrated by those outside Spurs…
