Tottenham Hotspur returned to winning ways in the Premier League last weekend after dispatching impressive Crystal Palace at home, scoring three late goals to turn the game on its head.
Ange Postecoglou will feel that there is plenty of work to be done as the crucial closing stage of the campaign draws near, five points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with 12 matches to play (albeit with a game in hand), but there has been much improvement after last year's struggle.
Despite Harry Kane's sale to Bayern Munich back in August, Tottenham have made steady progress this season and now look like a team with promise and potential after such dismal hopes in the late stage of the 2022/23 campaign, the club's regression utterly bewildering after Mauricio Pochettino created a talented team.
Shrewd recruitment has been integral in building the club back up over the past months, with Postecoglou's vision matched by the suitability of the additions, players such as Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario, Brennan Johnson and James Maddison all flourishing in the capital.
The latter has been the elite creative conduit needed to revive the togetherness and fluidity, with Tottenham now, at their best, an outfit of great panache.
James Maddison's season in numbers
Maddison had been courted by Newcastle United for several years and while the Magpies might have enjoyed an unexpected top-four finish last season, it was Tottenham – no European football to offer – who prevailed in the race for the playmaker, signing him for £40m in June.
While Maddison had been at the heart of a Leicester City side that suffered relegation from the Premier League last season, he can be apportioned blame after an excellent individual effort, scoring ten goals and adding nine assists from 28 matches.
Tottenham welcomed him to the fold and did so with the knowledge that they had secured a shrewd deal for one of the division's best.
As per FBref, the England international ranks among the top 6% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 1% for shot-creating actions, the top 12% for passes attempted and the top 2% for progressive passes per 90.
That's a roundabout way of saying that he is an elite creative midfielder, with his pre-injury performances for Tottenham simply breathtaking, winning August's Premier League Player of the Month award to underline his influence.
Since returning to competitive action in January, Maddison has not quite reached the same level of synergy with his Lilywhites teammates but that's certainly not to say that he hasn't been impressive.
As per Sofascore, the 27-year-old has posted three goals and seven assists across 16 outings in the top flight this season, completing 86% of his passes and averaging 2.7 key passes, 5.9 successful duels and 1.5 tackles per game.
Maddison, among other recent signings, marks a new wave of talent and promise in north London and bespeaks Postecoglou's strength in the dugout, shaping the squad ahead of a desired pursuit of silverware in the seasons to come.
Indeed, with chairman Daniel Levy seemingly conducting transfer activity more astutely, moves such as the deal to land Ivan Perisic in 2022 can be learned from, with the veteran Croatia international, unfortunately, going down as a poor piece of business.
Why Spurs signed Ivan Perisic
Tottenham signed Perisic on a free transfer in June 2022 after the dynamic ace's contract with Inter Milan came to an end, with Perisic reuniting with his former manager Antonio Conte at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
33 years old at the time, Perisic had a wealth of experience and offered a skill set fit for purpose in London, an immense playmaker and set-piece specialist with a glittering trophy cabinet including Serie A triumph with Inter, Bundesliga success with both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich and a part in Die Roten's Champions League-winning campaign of 2019/20.
And in fairness, while his signature ended up bleeding Tottenham more than its value on the pitch, Perisic did manage to chalk up 14 assists from 50 appearances for the Lilywhites, notably earning eight assists from 23 starting appearances in the Premier League last season and creating 11 big chances for his teammates, as per Sofascore.
However, chipping in with just 1.2 tackles and clearances and 2.9 successful duels per game added to the defensive woes that knocked Tottenham's campaign off-kilter.
Moreover, reporters such as George Sessions were of the belief that while he was endowed with innate creativity, it was not harnessed properly, with the journalist saying: "Perisic has offered very little from the left and his delivery has again been poor, in keeping with recent weeks."
Heung-min Son
£197k-per-week
Ivan Perisic
£180k-per-week
Cristian Romero
£175k-per-week
Richarlison
£175k-per-week
James Maddison
£170k-per-week
Couple that with the staggering salary that the Croatian was on and it can only go down as an unsuccessful deal for a player who, ultimately, was caught in the centre of a seasonal crisis.
Ivan Perisic earned more than Maddison does
Technically, Perisic is still on Tottenham's books but he is out of contract in the summer and has re-joined his homeland side Hadjuk Split on loan until the end of the season.
It's unclear if Tottenham are continuing to pay Perisic's wages until the end of the campaign, or whether his €1m wage in Croatia has been agreed upon to facilitate the move, but even if Spurs severed Perisic from their wage bill in January he would have cost them £15m in total salary.
This is a large outlay for a player midway into their thirties across just 50 appearances – working out to £300,000 per fixture – and given that he actually started the 2023/24 campaign with higher earnings than Maddison it's pretty difficult to put forth a case that securing his services was worth the hassle.
Ultimately, with Perisic now gone and Tottenham continuing to shape their side with genuine quality, Postecoglou's project only strengthens in its bid for prominence on the continent.
