Newcastle United think £50m is a fair price for Leicester City star James Maddison, transfer insider Dean Jones has told GIVEMESPORT.
Tottenham Hotspur are also thought to be keen on the attacking midfielder, and while Jones says Newcastle are capable of blowing their Premier League rivals out of the water, he reckons they won’t.
Fabrizio Romano recently told GIVEMESPORT that the Magpies have been pursuing Maddison since last summer and have always appreciated him.
James Maddison and Eddie Howe
They face competition for his signature from Tottenham, though, with talkSPORT reporting that the north London club have opened talks with Leicester over a transfer.
He looks almost certain to leave the King Power Stadium following the Foxes’ relegation to the Championship.
In total, Maddison made 32 appearances for Leicester in the 2022/23 season, as per Transfermarkt.
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the journalist said: “It won’t be easy [for Tottenham to sign Maddison]. They need to fight off Newcastle and also negotiate with Leicester, who will be very resistant to budging from their £55m valuation.
“Newcastle won’t blow Spurs out of the water here, even though they could if they wanted to. Word out of Tyneside is they think around £50m is a fair price for Maddison.”
Why are Newcastle and Tottenham fighting for James Maddison’s signature?
While Leicester were extremely poor this season, Maddison was still able to impress.
According to WhoScored, the Englishman came up with 19 goal contributions and made 2.3 key passes per game, the highest average in the Foxes’ squad.
Over the last year, Maddison has also ranked in the 87th percentile for shot-creating actions and the 85th for progressive passes among attacking midfielders and wingers (via FBref).
He, of course, has a lot of Premier League experience as well and is an England international, too.
When you consider all of the above, and the fact that Maddison can play in multiple positions, it’s easy to see why both Newcastle and Tottenham are so keen to land the Leicester man this summer.
The former have the money and Champions League football, so even with the latter having an interest they’re in a good position to bring him to St James’ Park.
However, as much as Eddie Howe may want him, it seems like Newcastle have a budget for the player and are reluctant to go over it.
