Europa League champion James Maddison was unable to help Tottenham Hotspur take Manchester United down in Bilbao, Spain in May, but there is no question that the top class English playmaker played a crucial role in Spurs winning their first major European trophy in 41 years during the time he was healthy.
Maddison was one of the team leaders in goal contributions and the best overall chance creator, as the Leicester City man has proven to be every bit as good as advertised since joining Tottenham. While the injury woes have indeed reared their head as a member of Spurs, the positives outweight the negatives for one of the few veteran leaders on Tottenham and easily one of the most likable Premier League players.
Unfortunately, Maddison has not been able to play in the 2025/26 Premier League or Champions League seasons yet for Spurs due to a devastating ACL tear he suffered towards the end of the preceding 2024/25 campaign.
Will James Maddison play this season?
Updates on Maddison have been hard to come by, but the freelancing commentator has finally delivered a tangible injury update for Spurs fans. James Maddison recently opened up to ITV News about his injury status, stating that he is high unlikely to be in contention for the 2026 World Cup for the Three Lions due to the time table of his injury. However, he dropped big news that he should be able to return for Tottenham towards the end of the 2025/26 season.
The man known as Madders said, "When I realised, obviously, I was going to be out for the majority of the season, if not the whole season, that kind of crushed that dream of going to the World Cup. It was a tough one to take. That's the cons of football and one of the negatives of missing out through injury. It's about dealing with that mentally. And that's partly why there's been some dark days. You want to represent your country, you always want to be in a position, especially off the back of a good season last year. Personally, with good numbers, I felt like I was close with Thomas Tuchel coming in. The first and foremost thing for me is just to come back safely and be fit. It's such a long injury. There are so many ups and downs that I just want to be in a place, returning and having a smile on my face and being fit for Tottenham Hotspur, whenever that is. It's going to be towards the end of the season, so the World Cup is probably going to be ruled out, if not definitely. So, it's one of them things. As I said, I'll take it on the chin and, yeah, it's one of those things that will drive me going forward."
If Tottenham can get Maddison back at all before the 2025/26 season ends, that would be huge, and if they can make better signings in January to bolster their attack, they could get back into top four contention by the end of the campaign with Madders than playing a key role in making plays for the likes of Randal Kolo Muani - and maybe even Antoine Semenyo - to help them secure more Champions League football.