‘It was an open goal’ – David Pleat says Spurs should have signed player way sooner
Former Tottenham manager David Pleat, who served as a consultant scout for the North London club until this summer, says that Tottenham missed an ‘open goal’ by failing to sign James Maddison when he was at Coventry City.
James Maddison is finally a Spurs player
There were some doubts about Maddison heading into the new season, given the drop-off he had in the latter part of last campaign, allied with the fact that he did not look at his best during pre-season.
However, Ange Postecoglou kept faith in 27-year-old and the Spurs vice-captain has proven that class is permanent, producing three accomplished displays so far, and looking a lot more like the player we saw prior to his injury last season.
Pleat, who left his role as a scout at Tottenham back in July, has now revealed that he told the Lilywhites to sign the attacking midfielder back when he was a youngster at Coventry.
‘It was an open goal’ – David Pleat says
The 79-year-old insisted that the deal was a no-brainer, but the North London club failed to get it done.
Pleat told The Athletic: “The boy (James) Maddison was so good it was like he had eyes in the back of his head. I went into Tottenham the following morning and said, ‘There’s a boy at Coventry we should sign tomorrow.’ It was an open goal. A tortoise couldn’t have gone slower. They didn’t chase it.”
When asked about the England international eventually signing for Spurs last summer, Pleat joked with him that he was “£40million too late.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Pleat might have been right in Maddison’s case, but one can never be 100 per cent sure that if young players can translate their impressive displays in the EFL to the Premier League level.
A lot of clubs would have also had doubts about Maddison’s lack of physicality and athleticism when he was a youngster.
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