Tottenham told they already have James Maddison replacement in their squad

Tottenham legend Chris Waddle believes that Tottenham Hotspur already have a player in their squad who can take over James Maddison’s number ten role and develop a great partnership with Dominic Solanke.

Tottenham’s worst fears were confirmed on Thursday as it emerged that James Maddison had suffered an ACL injury, which is expected to sideline him for a minimum of six months.

Understandably, Spurs fans are desperate to see Tottenham sign an attacking midfielder, and many of them are growing increasingly impatient as the campaign draws ever closer.

However, one pundit has now suggested that Frank may already have a youngster in his Spurs squad who could fill the England international’s shoes.

Chris Waddle says Pape Sarr can play as a number 10 for Tottenham

Frank has used Pape Sarr as Tottenham’s most advanced midfielder in the last two pre-season friendlies against Newcastle and Bayern Munich.

While that might be down to necessity due to the injuries of Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, Chris Waddle believes that the Senegal international could be suited to the role.

He likened Sarr’s running power to Dele Alli and suggested that the former Metz man could develop a partnership with Dominic Solanke, similar to the one Dele did with Harry Kane.

Waddle told TalkSPORTBet: “James Maddison has had a lot of injuries, and this injury on tour doesn’t look good. What I will say is that Spurs have got an absolutely massive squad. A lot of loans came back, they have made acquisitions, it’s probably one of the biggest squads in the Premier League on paper.

“Tottenham fans want to be entertained, and preseason has been okay, but Maddison will be a miss. Pape Matar Sarr has had a great preseason with his energy levels and I could see him playing behind the striker. He’s scoring goals at the minute, he’s confident, he’s got great energy, he can run off the ball very, very well and he’s quite intelligent at that. 

“He’s the sort of player who could fit in behind Dominic Solanke. This is something that Frank will be looking at. I’m not saying Sarr’s got the ability of Madison, but he’s a very willing runner.

“Maybe it could be like Harry Kane with Dele Alli behind him, who had great success. I’m sure Thomas Frank will be working on who he’s going to play in that role.

“You need somebody with legs who can get around a bit and that’s going to be interesting. When the season starts we will see the team he wants to play, they need momentum and mixing the team up every week might not bring that.”

Waddle says Thomas Frank needs to learn and adapt

Waddle suggested that Frank is yet to discover his best starting eleven, with the new campaign now less than a week away.

The pundit claimed that the 51-year-old will have to tweak the counter-attacking approach he employed at Brentford to suit the players he has at his disposal at N17.

The Tottenham legend added: “A few of the young players will go out on loan again, Son Heung-min has left, but they have three players in each position, and Thomas Frank needs to figure out his XI.

“There are big things expected, and I know he did a good job with Brentford, so I think we will see a counter-attacking style which soaks up the pressure. Brentford had Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa on the break, so it will have to be different at Tottenham.”

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