Tottenham have earmarked Leicester midfielder James Maddison as their top transfer target if they sell Christian Eriksen at the end of the season, reports The Daily Mirror.
Eriksen will only have 12 months left to run on his current Tottenham deal in the summer and is unlikely to renew with Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
The Denmark international has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid and Barcelona and one of Spain’s big two are expected to step up their interest at the end of the season.
Resigned to losing the 26-year-old, Tottenham are now planning for life without their star creator and drafting up a list of potential replacements.
Pochettino appears to have cooled his interest in Aston Villa ace Jack Grealish and has now rekindled his pursuit of Maddison.
Tottenham were heavily linked with a move for the 22-year-old while he was at Norwich, before Leicester won the race for his signature last summer.
Maddison has made the transition to Premier League football well and is now firmly back on Tottenham’s radar.
Leicester paid £20m for Maddison last summer and will certainly hope to command double that fee if Tottenham step up their interest in the summer.
Maddison has endured a mixed relationship with Leicester boss Claude Puel in recent weeks and eyebrows were raised when the Frenchman withdrew the midfielder after 62 minutes against Manchester United last weekend.
The 22-year-old was arguably Leicester’s best player at the time and looked most likely to get the Foxes back into the game.
In fact, Maddison has been subbed off in 14 of the 22 matches he has started in the Premier League this season. He has played a direct hand in nine goals (five goals, four assists) in 23 games in total this term.
Despite rarely completing 90 minutes this season, Maddison has registered the most key passes (57) of players aged 23 or under in Europe’s top five leagues this season.
