Cristian Stellini has admitted that Leicester midfielder James Maddison is a player that Tottenham boss Antonio Conte and the coaching staff like ahead of Saturday's clash at the King Power Stadium.
Spurs have been linked with the 26-year-old for years and were heavily mooted with finally making a move last summer after the England international contributed 18 goals and 12 assists to Leicester's season. Despite a knee injury that ended his World Cup chances, this season has still brought another eight goals and four assists from 17 games from Maddison despite the Foxes' difficult campaign which has them 14th in the Premier League.
Tottenham travel to Leicester on Saturday for the first time since last season's dramatic 3-2 victory at the King Power Stadium with two Steven Bergwijn goals in added time snatching the three points away from the hosts. Maddison scored that night last January and assistant boss Stellini admits the midfielder, who has a contract until the summer of 2024, is someone the coaching staff like.
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"We like Maddison like a player. He is an important player in this league, a player with an important type of skill, like his delivery, his cross, his right foot is a very important foot so he shoots, he crosses, he takes the set-pieces," he said. "He is a player you have to take care of. When you play against this player, you have to be careful.
"When you feel how important is this type of skill, for sure you like this type of player. He’s a player with talent. At the moment he’s playing for Leicester, a team we play against. We take care of him like an opponent."
Spurs have plenty to play for in the second half of the season as they currently sit in fifth place in the Premier League, three points behind third-placed Manchester United as well as being in the last 16 of the Champions League and the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Last season Conte and his staff had full weeks to work with the team between games in the second half of the season after their Covid-enforced exit from the Europa Conference League. Stellini is looking for consistency regardless of the amount of fixtures on the horizon.
"You plan using the full week you have to work, to create this type of endurance. You need to plan in that type of week when you have a full week to work to create something for the player to arrive until the end of the season well, like we did last season," he said.
"This season we have the Champions League to play, more than last season, but we are prepared to do this. We know how to manage this situation. We will do. Our expectation is more about the mentality to be consistent from now to the end of the season. It's more about the mentality. We hope to play many, many games. You need to recover, play, recover, play, and use your mind more than last season."
One player who has scored plenty of eye-catching goals against Leicester and seems to be back in form is Son Heung-min and Stellini believes he's been more like his old self in the past month.
"If you think in the way I think about Sonny, in the last three, four games, my perception is that Sonny played amazing games. Also when he didn’t score, he helped the team," said the assistant head coach. "I could show you games when Sonny was so important in the defensive situation, and how it's important with his capacity to run, to attack the space, to create space for the other players. It’s not only about scoring goals.
"My perception is this. I want Sonny to continue to play (like this) and then for a player like him, the goal will arrive and we are here to wait for that moment with him, to work with him."
He added: "Every striker wants to score every game, but there are games and periods where you score more and every time you shoot, you reach the target and score. Sometimes you shoot a lot and are unlucky. For us, as coaches, it's important what Sonny does for the team and when Sonny does score, we will like him like every time, but I repeat, he played amazing games.
"When you are a player like Sonny, if Sonny is not scoring and he scored three goals in a game, so you would think with this boost, Sonny would be again a player that can score more. It could be a surprise, but we also know very well that in football, this type of thing can happen."
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