Tottenham Hotspur have endured a difficult season with injuries along their roster, which has seen the North Londoners struggle to put out reasonable performances domestically, and that is clearly depictable in where the Lilywhites stand in the current table. But going into the summer transfer window, Daniel Levy has to ensure that he not only brings some ceiling-raising and depth-bringing players to N17 but also gets rid of the players that have been consistently serving the sidelines, and among the questionable players on that latter list would be England international James Maddison.

Maddison hasn’t been as relevant

The midfield maestro moved to Tottenham in a highly anticipated transfer from Leicester City, but he has not been able to replicate the performances that were expected out of him, and it could come down to a few reasons. One of the easily pointed fingers could be how Ange Postecoglou has been using Maddison, given how the Australian head coach has been pushing him to contain himself in that left-sided #8 role compared to the free attacking role that he played during his time at King Power.

While we can easily point fingers at the former Australian head coach and how he has not used Maddison ideally, we should also be aware of how the Englishman has been a consistent presence on the treatment table. Maddison has been consistently pulling his hands up with injuries, and this could not be ideal for someone who is expected to be an integral part of the squad and of the leadership group. This has been a thing of major frustration for a lot of Tottenham supporters given how highly that they regard him.

Now with his future at N17 up in the air, there was a confirmation that he would go on to miss the rest of the ongoing season, and now this should definitely be a thing of frustration among the chiefs at Hotspur Way. Many would think that he is a player worth building your squad around, but then his repeated time on the treatment table forces the Ange (or whoever the head coach is) to recalibrate the entire midfield shape every now and then.

Ange depends on Maddison (quite a lot at times)

If we look at it, Tottenham’s current system under Postecoglou depends on rhythm and continuity, and every time Maddison is out, that left half-space collapses, and that ends up having a direct effect on the tempo of the side, and this is not just a rotation problem; if you look at how the Lilywhites have to change, in a sense, it’s a structural one. Without Maddison, the North Londoners lack a true left-footed creator, and the midfield becomes unbalanced, with pressing shape not quite there. We have seen Dejan Kulusevski being tested in those central roles, but he doesn’t offer the same spatial intelligence with his passing (the Swede may be good in tight spaces, but your creator should know how those outlet passes are in his arsenal), and this way Maddison’s absence ends up playing with the entire chemistry of Tottenham’s build-up and final-third connectivity.

To make matters worse, his injury trend is becoming a serious long-term concern now that we are starting to see some sort of a pattern of quick returns followed by minor setbacks, a strong performance or two, and then a pull-out due to muscular tightness or fatigue. In my opinion, it raises two possible red flags: either the club is managing his load poorly or Maddison’s physical profile simply isn’t on the same page with the relentless intensity system that Ange has deployed.

Levy has a bold call to make

In a sense, going into the summer window, Daniel Levy finds himself at a crossroads with Maddison, given that he is 29 next season, with three more years left on his current contract at N17, and given how he carries high wages for someone who is becoming more and more unreliable. We need to know that resale value will begin to go down quickly, and the club has to make a choice this off-season – do Levy continue to build around an injury-prone creator or invest in a younger, more durable midfielder who makes more sense in the longer term?

See, I am not denying Maddison’s quality when he is at his hundred per cent, but there’s also no ignoring how costly it is to keep reorganising the structure of the side around someone who can’t string together ten consistent games.

More Tottenham Hotspur News:

• TTLB Opinion: Is Postecoglou the reason behind Maddison’s underwhelming season at Tottenham?
• TTLB Opinion: Tottenham target Branthwaite and Guehi – but who makes more sense?
• TTLB Opinion: Should Tottenham be worried about Van de Ven to Real Madrid or is it all agent talks?

If Levy wants to continue progress in the project over the long term, then this summer might be the time to either reduce his importance in the roster or make a brave decision and sell him.