'I sense in him that he's back'

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou says James Maddison has come back from his England heartbreak determined to “have a big season”.

The 27-year-old described how he was “devastated” in June after being one of the last players cut from Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad that travelled to Germany, reaching a final, which they lost 2-1 to Spain.

Now, ahead of an opening day fixture away at his former club Leicester City, Postecoglou admits Maddison is motivated by the snub: “I’ve sensed in Madders that he’s come back.

“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.”

He further explained why a downturn in form happened for Maddison towards the end of last season, which saw him go from a regular starter with England, to needing to make way for others.

“With Madders, a lot of it last year was the physical element,” Postecoglou added. “When he wasn’t 100 percent 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.

“That’s what we’re trying to do with him, we’ve tried to give him a really strong pre-season to try and push him in a physical way where I think when he feels good about that, the rest of it goes from there rather than him lacking any confidence or self-belief.”