Maddison Draws Parallels Between Himself and Spurs Youngster Moore: A Reflection on Similarities

He has started mentoring young Mikey Moore, a talented teenager looking to secure more playing time with the first team.

Maddison stated at his Europa League presser: “Mikey, when he first came up I had to remind myself how young he actually is. When he first came up he was 16 and more of like a man already when I watch him play, he’s very powerful, and he’s only going to get stronger as he develops into his body. It’s quite scary, he’s got a lot of ability. But I don’t want him to feel any pressure because he’s getting a lot of people talking about him, and rightly so, and that’s down to him training well, getting in the first team and getting exposure which is what he wants. Firstly, he’s a great kid… a really polite and well-mannered young man, which is a credit to his family because as a senior player with a young lad coming up that’s the first thing you recognise.

“You don’t want a young lad coming up with that arrogance, and that who does he think he is… And then his ability on the ball. We’ve seen it in training and the Spurs fans will be keen to see more in games. But we see it in training. He’s got bags of ability and it looks to me as if he loves the game, loves playing, gets tackles and sometimes falls on the floor and jumps up as if nothing’s happened and he wants the ball again. So I’m really excited to see how his journey goes and try to help him as much as I can.

“I always try to have a little chat to him because I think ‘what would a 16 year old James Maddison want?’ and he would want one of the senior first team players to put an arm round him and one, treat him like a man, but also give him to advice to try and help him, and accelerate that success and living the journey he is going to have. He has got to go and do it when he gets the opportunity and I’m sure he will, and I’m sure he’s keen and eager to get going and get more minutes. I look forward to it.”