Was £450k, now worth £45m: Pochettino had major Spurs howler on "world-class" magician - opinion

Tottenham currently have an exciting set of young players coming through and impressing at youth and senior level this season.

The likes of Dane Scarlett, Ollie Skipp and Japhet Tanganga are academy products who have had first-team involvements, whilst Ryan Sessegnon, Dejan Kulusevski and Christian Romero are all promising talents who have come in from elsewhere.

Whilst the current crop of prospects can get the supporters excited, some fans may look back and wonder what could have been with some of the targets Spurs have had in the past.

One player the club had a major howler with was midfielder James Maddison in January 2016. Mauricio Pochettino was reportedly keen on a deal to sign the Englishman from Coventry City but ultimately missed out on him as Norwich City snapped him up.

At the time of the move, Transfemarkt valued him at a measly £450k as he was an up-and-coming prospect who had yet to prove himself at senior level.

He spent time out on loan at Coventry and Aberdeen before Daniel Farke handed him his first-team opportunity at Carrow Road. In the 2017/18 campaign, the midfielder thrived under the German coach as he scored 15 goals and provided 11 assists in all competitions for the Canaries.

This earned him a transfer to Leicester in the summer of 2018. Since joining the Foxes, he has scored 41 goals and registered 29 assists in 164 outings, including 14 goals and nine assists in all competitions this term.

Although he has only been capped once by England, Gareth Southgate previously hailed the magician’s “world-class“ set-pieces and he has showcased his ability from dead balls for Brendan Rodgers, with six direct free-kick goals in the Premier League to date.

At the time of writing, Transfermarkt now value him