Player Watch Player Watch: James Maddison

[ChappersES]

Hopefully if we get Maddison that can be Kane off free kicks once and for all

Well he scored a beauty recently.

 

[thePessimist]

Well he scored a beauty recently.

*not a freekick

 

[mark87]

Well he scored a beauty recently.

I'm happy for him to keep taking indirect freekicks if he scores like that, I just don't want him taking direct freekicks as I actually think I'm better than him at them he's that bad.

 

[Scot-Spur]

I keep seeing Alex scott mentioned have we had any ITK on him or anything to suggest we are after him. I've seen him saying he's a spurs fan and his best mate is Devine but other than that can't fathom why people keep talking about us signing him.

He’s been mentioned in plenty reports since last summer that we have an interest.

 

[Huddlebone]

Maddison, Bissouma And Bentancur would be a really strong one

 

[carpediem991]

Maddison, Bissouma And Bentancur would be a really strong one

Sounds quality. Adding Sarr, Skipp, Hojbjerg and maybe Kulusevski to the mix and we would be settled in that area.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Well he scored a beauty recently.

I was at that game behind the goal and turned to my old man and said I have a feeling Kane is going to score this, should've bloody put a bet on it but he did have it rolled to him so not a direct FK.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Maddison, Bissouma And Bentancur would be a really strong one

Keep them all fit and that is an outstanding midfield 3.

 

[Impspur1]

Sounds quality. Adding Sarr, Skipp, Hojbjerg and maybe Kulusevski to the mix and we would be settled in that area.

I’m hoping PEH goes tbh

 

[jpascavitz]

Maddison, Bissouma And Bentancur would be a really strong one

Agreed. Such a shame about Bentancur's injury.

Right now to me:

Bentancur ----> Sarr
Bissouma ----> Skipp
Maddison ----> Ndombele

Would be the "ideal" on paper midfield. Cash in on PEH if a good offer comes in and let Skipp continue to develop into a 6/8. Ndombele can provide that attacking flair if he can apply himself. Otherwise the next best scenario would be to promote a youth player (Devine, may be a little ripe) to develop under Maddison - or invest in Scott. We also have Kulusevski which could play that role.

Lots of ifs, buts, and maybes for Ange - should be a rollercoaster as always

 

[jpascavitz]

Quite a few reports coming out now that Maddison is Newcastle’s top target, think this might be tough for us to pull off.

They were linked to both Maddison and Szoboszlai. I don't think you could go wrong with either tbh

 

[greavesy461]

Maddison, Bissouma And Bentancur would be a really strong one

All prem proven and coming into their primes. Hopefully Bents recovers okay from his ACL. Seems like he has restarted light training

 

[djhotspur]

I keep seeing Alex scott mentioned have we had any ITK on him or anything to suggest we are after him. I've seen him saying he's a spurs fan and his best mate is Devine but other than that can't fathom why people keep talking about us signing him.

I think trix did but he said so many teams want him including city

 

[Tucker]

Quite a few reports coming out now that Maddison is Newcastle’s top target, think this might be tough for us to pull off.

Care to share them, so that people can see what source this is coming from?

 

[crippsy25]

Meant more this season. We all thought it would take Newcastle years to be a more attractive prospect than us in the market, and yet after barely a season under the Saudis they're above us in the league and in the CL ahead of us. Most neutrals would call them a bigger draw than us this summer.

Outside of the absolute mega clubs the pecking order is always pretty fluid - teams are attractive one year and not the next (see Leicester a few years ago) and no-one will care too much about our 13 years of European football when a team like Newcastle is the richest club in the world and had CL ahead of us.

Christ some people on here are defensive. Maybe next year we'll switch back?

They will have to massively bend/break rules to access a lot of the money, we are historically a bigger club, 1 good season for them and 1 poor one for us doesn't change that.
We are more likely to qualify for champs league than them in the coming seasons.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Quite a few reports coming out now that Maddison is Newcastle’s top target, think this might be tough for us to pull off.

They have been tracking him for ages, he’s been their top target at least since winter if not before. I know we have the Base connect but I honestly don’t know why he’d come here. Ether way I hope it gets sorted quickly so we can move on

 

[crippsy25]

I’m not sure about that. Conte had us in the mix for top-4, but the wheels came off after he left and we tried to be more expressive.

I get that people did not like the football, but the results were better with Conte than without.

Not last season, when he left we may have been 4th, but if the teams that had games in hand won them (they did mainly) then we would have been 7th

 

[Timberwolf]

They will have to massively bend/break rules to access a lot of the money, we are historically a bigger club, 1 good season for them and 1 poor one for us doesn't change that.
We are more likely to qualify for champs league than them in the coming seasons.

I obviously hope this is true but not sure if it is.

Once the Man City machine got rolling it was pretty much a straight march upwards and, while it will be harder for Newcastle due to FFP, they've made some very smart acquisitions in Bruno G, Trippier, Pope, Isak and Botman. Think every single one of those improves our first 11 right now (if you play Isak LWF).

If they keep signing smartly and we lose Kane this summer or next, I think it's certainly possible they'll be ahead of us in the race for CL football going forward.

 

[Rosco1984]

I’m hoping PEH goes tbh

the dream of having an attacking manager and a CM that doesn't go missing take the easy option, Stamp his feet, slap his chest and blame everyone else against the better sides in one summer is surely too much to hope for.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Thanks for sharing mate and these are the perfect priorities.

We can’t do everything at once and we’d be much stronger if we made these 5 signings, it would then be very interesting what Ange would look to do especially at LB but also RB as his full backs tend to tuck in as part of the 2-3-5 build up play in which case I wonder if Porro becomes a RW option and Emerson and Davies/Reggie/Udogie play as the inverted full backs.

Basically interesting that a full back isn’t a priority but those 5 positions would be brilliant to help Ange play the style he needs.

I think Porro playing inverted fullback isn't that much different than how Cancelo used to operate for Man City. Also Udogie has spent time in CM earlier in his career so he's comfortable in those areas. This is a conversation for another thread though...