Report: Football agents vote Spurs deal as the best signing of the summer

The Athletic asked 18 different football agents to vote for what they think is the best deal for the summer, with James Maddison emerging with the most votes by far.

Maddison has started the season on fire, with four goal contributions in the first four Premier League games of the season, with the attacking midfielder seemingly taking his game up another level following his switch to Spurs.

Many have already expressed disbelief at the fact that Spurs got the 26-year-old for just £40m, particularly given the prices that some of the other midfielders across the Premier League have fetched this summer.

Several pundits have already named the Maddison deal as the best value-for-money signing of the summer transfer window (Sky Sports), and that is an opinion shared by the biggest agents in the game.

Agents vote James Maddison as deal of the summer

The Athletic have revealed that nine out of the 18 agents that they asked picked out the England international’s switch to the Lilywhites as the best deal of the window.

In contrast, the second on the list, which is Declan Rice’s switch from West Ham to Arsenal, got only 3 votes.

One agent is quoted as saying to the publication about the Maddison deal: “Even before the season had started, I thought it was, pound for pound, the best deal. When you look at some of the transfer fees for players that aren’t even proven — look at Cole Palmer.

“I know they (Chelsea) are buying potential, but the guy has played about 15 league games and they’ve paid more for him than Spurs did for Maddison.”

Another agent told the outlet: “He (Maddison) stayed at Leicester too long but Spurs looks the right move for him. There’s a good buzz around Spurs under (Ange) Postecoglou, which wasn’t the case for a few seasons, and a player like Maddison should enjoy that.

“It’s a shame (Harry) Kane has left because they would have worked well together, but sometimes a change is good for everyone. Maddison looks re-energised. And from a Spurs point of view, it was a good deal at a really good price.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Agents usually tend to have a much better picture than the rest of us of how in-demand certain players are in each window and the fact almost all of them are impressed by Tottenham’s acquisition of Maddison shows just how well the North London club hierarchy have done to get the deal over the line so early in the transfer window.