Spurs ‘close to completing’ first summer signing as Newcastle miss out on £40m England star
Tottenham are ‘close’ to beating Newcastle United in the race to sign Leicester City midfielder James Maddison, according to reports.
Maddison will leave Leicester this summer following their relegation to the second tier of English football.
He enjoyed a pretty decent season from a personal standpoint, scoring ten goals and notching nine assists in 30 Premier League appearances.
The 26-year-old also went to the World Cup with England, although he did not make an appearance in Qatar, and is now a regular in Gareth Southgate’s squad after knocking on the door for quite some time.
Newcastle and Tottenham have been vying for Maddison’s signature since day one of the summer transfer window and you get the impression this is not a saga that will be dragged out all summer.
On that note, it has been reported by The Athletic that Spurs are now ‘close’ to completing the signing of the England international.
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The report states that the Londoners will beat Newcastle in the race with Daniel Levy ready to pay £40million up front, plus add-ons, after Leicester originally asked for closer to £60m, despite Maddison entering the final year of his contract at the King Power.
New Spurs boss Ange Posctecoglou apparently made Maddison his top priority when he joined from Celtic and will be delighted if Levy can manage to sign such a talented player early on in his tenure.
Although Newcastle remain keen, it is said Spurs are the ‘heavy favourites’ to complete the signing with personal terms ‘not thought to be an issue’.
And Fabrizio Romano has also reported that personal terms have been agreed with Maddison.
Writing on Twitter on Tuesday morning, the transfer expert said Levy is ‘very active on this deal’, with talks progressing nicely.
A recent report from the Daily Mail on Monday did suggest that Newcastle’s top transfer target is Maddison, with Eddie Howe also interested in Southampton full-back Kyle Walker-Peters and Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen.
There appears to be more in the rumours the Magpies want to sign Southampton youngster Tino Livramento, however.
The Telegraph recently claimed the young defender has impressed Howe with his ‘versatility’.
Livramento joined Southampton from Chelsea for around £5m two years ago and hit the ground running, playing 32 times across all competitions in 2021/22.
The 20-year-old can operate as a right-back or a left-back and is bound to become a full England international at some point, having played five times for the Under-21s.
He suffered a serious knee injury before the 22/23 campaign got underway and his absence was very notable as the Saints were relegated to the Championship alongside Maddison’s Leicester.
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