Leicester City have stepped up their efforts to ensure their star man, James Maddison, commits his future to the Foxes amid interest from Newcastle United and Arsenal according to a report in The Telegraph.
The former Norwich City midfielder has been on Newcastle’s radar for a while and after a failed attempt to land the England man in the summer it was widely believed that Newcastle would be back in for Maddison in January, but Eddie Howe and Dan Ashworth opted to bide their time with the clock running down on his current Foxes deal.
Other top clubs have retained an interest in James Maddison with Manchester City keeping tabs on him in the January window, however it seems their interest has cooled. However, The Telegraph are now naming Arsenal as another potential destination.
Maddison has been in scintillating form for the Foxes this season, and despite the poor form of the team overall, particularly at the start of the season, Maddison has gone on to bag nine goals in 16 outings as well as five assists.
Maddison should be Eddie Howe’s top priority
While it’s no surprise that Leicester will be desperate to hold on to Maddison in the summer, it will be clear to anyone who watches Newcastle that they desperately need a player like Maddison to help them make that next step up the ladder in terms of quality and consistency.
With that being said, why should Eddie Howe look for a “Maddison-type” player when there’s still a realistic chance that we could bring the man himself to St James’ Park? We already saw, during the World Cup, that the 26-year-old had bonded with the trio of Magpies in the England camp which just added fuel to the fire that Tyneside would be his next destination.
It’s time to stop playing hard-ball and pay what he’s worth
A transfer fee of £60m has been bandied around for a while, and though Newcastle value the player more around the £40m mark if their bid history is anything to go by, it might be time to reassess that figure in order to prove to both Maddison and Leicester that we aren’t messing around.
It does feel like Maddison already has one foot out of the door at Leicester with his head turned in a north-easterly direction, we just need to give him that gentle push. The clubs appear to be on opposite trajectories which will definitely help strengthen the Magpies’ position, but with Leicester set to offer a new deal, we have to go in soon and make sure what we’re offering is too tempting to turn down.