Tottenham Hotspur have had an eventful season, with James Maddison and Yves Bissouma emerging as key figures in their midfield. Both players have shown glimpses of brilliance, but questions remain about their futures at the club.
Maddison has been a creative spark, but can he maintain consistency to lead Spurs back to the top? Meanwhile, Bissouma has had a mixed time since his arrival, and with competition for spots heating up, his place in the squad could be under scrutiny.
Maddison has been a creative spark, but can he maintain consistency to lead Spurs back to the top? Meanwhile, Bissouma has had a mixed time since his arrival, and with competition for spots heating up, his place in the squad could be under scrutiny.
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00:00Tottenham Hotspur have had an eventful season with James Maddison and Vespa Suma emerging
00:08as key figures in their midfield. Both players have shown glimpses of brilliance but questions
00:14remain about their futures at the club. Maddison has been a creative spark but can he maintain
00:20consistency to lead Spurs back to the top next season? Meanwhile, Basuma has had a mixed
00:26time since his arrival and with competition for spots heating up, his place in the squad
00:32could be under scrutiny. What lies ahead for both players, we discuss their futures at
00:37Spurs and what changes could be made on the horizon for the north London side. I spoke
00:43to James Trenbath of London World to get a latest insight on Maddison and Basuma's futures
00:50at the club.
00:52Let's just look at one player in Vespa Suma. He came in and you touched on it there, he
01:00was really stale in Angie's plans, in Angie's team. He could receive the ball really well.
01:08He made the team tick from back to front when he first came in and then slowly he's petered
01:13out. He's almost at 100 games for Spurs but if you look across them, it's been pretty
01:19abysmal this season, especially the last few months. He's really suffered, he's really
01:22going through a tough patch personally as a player. How do you think he gets back to
01:27his best? Can you see him getting there? He's only 28 years of age, he's still got a lot
01:32of football to play if he can at the top, wants to be at the highest level. It's been
01:37a real poor season for him by his standards.
01:40You look at Basuma at Brighton and when Spurs brought him in, you're thinking, wow, what
01:46a signing, this is a really good deal for Spurs. Not a huge amount of money, super talent,
01:53ball-carrying midfielder, working those tight spaces, got a brilliant engine on him. It's
01:58just never worked out for him at Spurs. You don't know what's going on off the pitch and
02:04any personal issues. Obviously, we can't comment on any of that sort of thing but it looks
02:08to me from the outside in, in terms of his discipline, there's an issue there. Mentality
02:14I think is another thing. I think you could probably level that at several Spurs players.
02:17It's almost like when they get to Spurs, they get too comfortable. It's like the pipe and
02:20slippers job. You're at Spurs, nice and comfy, really nice stadium to play in every week,
02:24lovely training ground but actually on the pitch, it doesn't really matter. Nobody stands
02:29up to be countered. They all find it easy to go and hide. You can see that when Vicario
02:35has got the ball at the back, we're trying to play out from the back, which is another
02:37thing that we just play and play and play. I just don't see Basuma ever shining in a
02:43Spurs shirt. He's had flashes under Ange, a little bit under Ryan Mason, didn't really
02:47play under Antonio Conte. He didn't fancy him. Again, a really, really positive on-paper
02:54signing for Spurs that's just turned into a real disappointment. I hope he can get back
02:59to the levels because he's a terrific player. He's clearly a talent but sadly, I don't think
03:05that's going to be in a Spurs shirt now and I can see him moving on during the summer.
03:08James, let's just look at James Maddison. Obviously, coming in two seasons ago, he was
03:13fantastic. He's definitely earned his move from that relegated Leicester side and maybe
03:19confidence had knocked him with injuries and obviously not being picked for the European
03:23Championships as well with England. That obviously took a big effect on him as well, you could
03:26tell. But when he's playing for Spurs, Spurs look at a way more creative outfit going forward
03:34and they look just overall at the better side completely. What sort of impact has Maddison
03:38had and how important is he in terms of the future and moving forward?
03:44I still think James Maddison's a crucial cog in the wheel. You can see, as you've just
03:48said there, Spurs are no doubt a better side when Maddison's in it. The creativity, ran
03:53the game against Alkmaar, really, really, really, really stepped up. Goals and assists
04:00this year, I think 18 goal involvements, 11 goals, 7 assists. He's still the talisman.
04:06He gets a lot of stick and I know he puts himself out there with the celebrations. He's
04:10quite flamboyant and he has gone missing at times this season. There's no doubt his form
04:15suffered. But again, he's been in and out of the team. He either starts games and doesn't
04:21finish or he doesn't start and he comes on for the last 20 minutes. So, his rhythm has
04:26been severely hampered, I guess you'd say. You see the damage that he can do. The way
04:31he drops the shoulder, his movement, he's the eye for a pass, terrific on the dead ball
04:35and he knows where the goal is as well, as I say. So, we need to be giving him all the
04:40freedom we can, building the team around him.