As Tottenham Hotspur hope for James Maddison to be fully fit soon following an ACL tear at the end of the 2024/25 Premier League season, it is honestly troubling that well over a year later, Madders still has not started a game and ahead of the first Matchday of the 2026/27 campaign, is still in question to even start vs. Brentford.
Tottenham will need Maddison now more than ever following the main starting No. 10, Xavi Simons, tearing his own ACL at the end of the last Premier League season. The only alternative in that playmaker role right now is Conor Gallagher, because Wilson Odobert, too, tore his ACL just before Simons did last season.
As much as Tottenham fans love Maddison, even his biggest supporters have to acknowledge that expectations for the former Leicester City star need to be tempered. Maddison is now 29 years old and has been playing grueling Premier League fixtures for years, drawing a lot of fouls over time in and around the penalty area, especially when he was a younger and more dynamic attacking midfielder for the Foxes back in the day.
It is hard for Tottenham to count on James Maddison now
Those knocks are catching up to James Maddison, and he's had a pretty prolonged course of recovery from this ACL tear. On the ball, he looks brilliant technically, no doubt, and he is still going to be an asset to Tottenham Hotspur from a creative and leadership perspective.
But in terms of his quickness or his knees having the same juice, that is going to be a different story, unless if Madders can prove otherwise. And Tottenham fans have every reason to be concerned about just what Maddison can provide in the 2026/27 Premier League season, because we haven't seen him on the field for very long or doing a whole lot beating opponents.
Players are recovering faster and better from ACL tears, and Tottenham have done a great job of handling Maddison's injury from a coaching perspective, with Roberto De Zerbi easing him along as much as possible.
The thing is, Tottenham fans have to be realistic, and of any fan base in the Premier League, they are the most likely to acknowledge a sobering reality. And they have to know they cannot expect much out of Maddison going forward. At this stage of his career after an injuruy as great as this one, all they can expect is for him to be a positive role player, and anything more than that is going to be a bonus.