James Maddison will be back at Leicester City on Monday night for the start of what feels like a hugely significant campaign for the Tottenham midfielder.
Maddison's career has faltered since he suffered ankle ligament damage in Spurs' now-notorious defeat to Chelsea on November 6, the playmaker never recovering his outstanding early-season form after returning to action in January and subsequently missing out on a place in England's Euro 2024 squad.
"I’ve sensed in Madders that he’s really determined to have a big season and hopefully that gets him back in the England frame, but more importantly for us hopefully gets him back to the form we know he can have," said Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou ahead of the visit to the King Power Stadium.
Before Maddison was the first player cut from Gareth Southgate's provisional squad for the European Championship, he was dropped by Postecoglou for Spurs' defeats to Chelsea and Liverpool in May, with Dejan Kulusevski preferred at No10.
Maddison made a magnificent impact at Spurs immediately following his £40million move from Leicester, during which he was at the heart of their unbeaten start under Postecoglou, but he was largely flat after returning to the pitch against Man City on January 26.
"I’m honest with myself, my form for Spurs when coming back from injury in the second half of the season probably wasn’t at the levels I had set," he wrote on social media after being axed by Southgate in June.
Maddison returned to the Spurs XI for the final two games of last season, but as he begins a new campaign, there is healthy competition for places in Postecoglou's side. Kulusevski wants to play centrally more often, while summer signing Lucas Bergvall, 18, is a perfect fit for Maddison's role of attacking No8 who drifts left.
Archie Gray, another new signing, and prodigal academy graduate Mikey Moore are now among the other players jostling for minutes in the squad.
"You have setback and it’s how you react," added Postecoglou. "And I'm sure he’ll want to sort of go out there and get himself back into the international frame and get back playing for England. Again, that's up to him to kind of find the right way to use that as a motivation.
"If you just sort of deflect or at any point kind of say, ‘you know it had nothing to do with me,’ then you miss an opportunity I think to kind of improve."
For Postecoglou, Maddison's struggle to regain full sharpness after turning his ankle injury was a major factor in his limp form after returning to the pitch.
"Even though it wasn't a significant injury in terms of time out, it still was significant in that for Madders, it set him back a fair bit," the Spurs manager added.
"Even when he came back, he had a couple of other smaller disruptions and I think when he came back into the team, we were kind of also struggling which doesn’t help him in terms of the kind of player he is.
"A lot of it last year was the physical element. When he wasn’t 100 per cent fit, then he couldn’t really perform at the levels he wanted to and even when he came back from injury, I never felt like he reached those physical levels he did earlier in the year. So, that’s a real key for him, if he’s training really well and in a good physical condition then I think his game flows from that."
Though Bergvall and Gray will likely need time to adapt to the Premier League and Postecoglou prefers Kulusevski as a wide player, Maddison is under a degree of pressure to hit the ground running this term, particularly given the stage of his career.
He is 27, Spurs' vice-captain and dressing room leader in a young squad, and Maddison will be expected to add much-needed verve and creativity to Postecoglou's front-foot team, which is set up to entertain.
"He’s an exciting player," said the Australian. "When the ball’s at his feet, he is one of those creative types and you know for most people that’s what rocks their boat. Others love a big tackle or a great save, but he’s definitely a player who can get punters off their seats.
"I think players feed off that as well, so yeah it’s important for us that he’s playing at his best. I think he makes us a better team and a more dangerous team. Hopefully that’s what we see."
The new season offers a fresh start and a clean slate for Maddison, who will be aiming to get back to the levels he showed in the first 10 games of last term.
Fit and confident, he is one of the League's most exciting creative players but if he continues to struggle for rhythm, he may quickly find his club place under threat again.
