Tottenham Hotspur have come a long way under Ange Postecoglou. It certainly feels like that anyway, regardless of the league position.
Indeed, despite the positivity that has encapsulated the Australian's tenure so far a place in the top four of the Premier League continues to evade them.
Had they won against Fulham on Saturday evening they would have leapfrogged Aston Villa into fourth, albeit if only for a day.
Postecoglou admitted post-match that fourth place would not be a trophy. He's correct, yet that must still be the goal after a campaign in which the Lilywhites had no European football at all.
They are still incredibly well placed to finish the season strongly but they will need to improve on a dire showing at Craven Cottage over the weekend. They will also need James Maddison at his best.
James Maddison's season in numbers
Make no mistake about it, Maddison has been one of the signings of the season in the English top flight.
Signed from relegated Leicester last summer for a fee of £40m, he has undoubtedly been one of Postecoglou's chief operators during an impressive first campaign in England.
To date, the England international has bagged four goals and registered eight assists across 20 matches. The last of those goals came during the 4-0 win over Aston Villa (below) and he also registered an assist versus Crystal Palace.
That being said, you sense the attacking midfielder is still getting up to speed having been sidelined by an ankle injury for two months between November and January.
It had all been looking rosy up to that point, but you will certainly back Maddison to become a relentless contributor of goals and assists again, weaving his artistry as he has done so regularly in the top division throughout his career.
Despite a length injury layoff, he still ranks in the top 5% of positionally similar players in the league for assists per 90 minutes and the best 1% for progressive passes with a whopping 9.43 per 90. For context, the average Premier League player has registered 3.95 this season.
It may be somewhat of a surprise, therefore, to learn that his value hasn't risen particularly highly since first impressing at Spurs. Perhaps it's the injury? Perhaps not. Either way, CIES Football Observatory would expect Maddison to command a £45m fee in the incredibly unlikely eventuality that he left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It truly does feel as though the club have finally replaced Christian Eriksen in the engine room, although arguably they are still searching for the rightful heir to Mousa Dembele's throne.
How much Dembele would be worth in 2024
No matter who you ask, Dembele is always described as one of the best players to have graced the Premier League. That's from a technical standpoint anyway.
There was fine praise from ex-Spurs man Kyle Walker who once said: "Dembele was probably the best player I’ve ever seen play football." As for another former Tottenham defender Eric Dier, he aptly suggested the Belgian was a "monster".
Former Arsenal hero Jack Wilshere also once stated: "You couldn’t get the ball off him, his dribbling was unreal.”
Indeed, that ball-carrying was one of the finer aspects of Dembele's game. During the 2015/16 season, only eight players registered more successful dribbles over the entire Premier League term. Only five individuals, meanwhile, could boast a greater average of dribbles completed per match.
#1 Giannelli Imbula (Stoke)
4.4
#2 Wilfried Zaha (Palace)
3.7
#3 Riyad Mahrez (Leicester)
3.5
#4 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
3.4
#5 Ross Barkley (Everton)
3.1
#6 Bolasie, Eden Hazard, Mousa Dembele
2.9
If that wasn't enough, the 6 foot 1 enforcer ranked inside the top ten players in the entire league for the number of tackles made per game. Dembele produced 3.6 that season with Leicester midfielder (at the time) N'Golo Kante topping the tree with 4.7.
Based on that you can gather a fine sense of why the Belgium international was so highly rated. He departed for Chinese shores in 2019, leaving the Lilywhites behind for a fee believed to be around £11m. He did so with fond memories having made 249 appearances in Spurs colours, scoring ten goals and supplying 12 assists.
It begs the question, if Daniel Levy were to sign Dembele in the present day, how much would he be worth? Well, thanks to Totally Money, we have the info.
They have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe's top five leagues and with plenty of historical financial data in hand, have been able to calculate what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day. That's after taking into account the incredible rate of inflation.
So, having joined Spurs for £17m, in the present day that would now mean Dembele's transfer would have cost the club a mighty £46m. That's more than the aforementioned Maddison. Still, we should hardly be surprised, right? The former Fulham man was a special, special player.
Market Movers
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