Son Heung-min believes Tottenham have located a much-needed missing link in James Maddison after the £40m summer signing registered his first goal for the club in Saturdays’s 2-0 victory at Bournemouth. Maddison opened the scoring, applying the finishing touch to a slick move, before Dejan Kulusevski doubled the visitors’ advantage. Son, the new Tottenham captain, says the England midfielder is the type of attack-minded player the team have craved in recent years.
Maddison joined Spurs from relegated Leicester and starred in Tottenham’s first away win of the season. Jude Bellingham, Maddison’s England teammate, described the 26-year-old’s performance at Bournemouth as “a joy” on Instagram while his manager, Ange Postecoglou, said he has been overjoyed with Maddison’s start to life at Spurs. “When we are talking about Madders we could stay here all day,” Son said. “He’s a really good player. For a couple of years we needed this kind of player to create chances and make passes, which is very important. Playing with him is a joy. Hopefully he can score and assist many goals.”
“I’m very happy for him that he scored his first goal for the club,” Son added. “I hope there is many more to come for him. He totally deserves it. He always plays thinking of the team and not for the individual. Madders scored a fantastic goal but credit also to Pape [Matar Sarr, who provided the assist]. We are all happy at this kind of special goal, because we are moving the ball really well.”
Son said Tottenham, who visit Fulham in the Carabao Cup second round on Tuesday, are enjoying playing under Postecoglou. “If you think about why you started playing football as a kid, I think you didn’t expect to be a professional, you are just having fun with your ball,” the South Korea forward said. “I think it’s very important, having fun. It helps you with your confidence and your self-belief. We are getting there but we only played three games. We have to concentrate and move forward.”
Spurs are set to step up their interest in the Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson before the close of the transfer window on Friday. Forest, who rejected a £35m bid for Johnson from Brentford in late July, want closer to £45m for the Wales international. Spurs also want to offload fringe players such as Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier, Tanguy Ndombele and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg.
