Spurs already targeting the next Dele Alli from League One

Tottenham look set to follow one of their most successful transfer blueprints of recent times and sign another young English midfield talent from League One, before loaning him back for the remainder of the season.

According to the Independent, Spurs are returning to the division for rising Coventry star James Maddison, a player they tried and failed to sign last summer, with a view to letting the nineteen-year-old see out 2015/16 at the Ricoh Arena.

Coventry’s number 10 was watched by some of Spurs’ top scouts in the Sky Blues’ recent defeat to Burton and it is thought glowing reports have only strengthened Mauricio Pochettino’s resolve to get Maddison signed up at White Hart Lane this January.

With plenty of interest in the Coventry native from other Premier League clubs, Tottenham’s Argentine coach is aware a swift conclusion is preferable.

Given the success Spurs have enjoyed since carrying off a very similar deal for Dele Alli just over a year ago, there is genuine scope for excitement among Lilywhites should the deal be completed.

Then of League One MK Dons, where he had been nurtured through the Dons’ academy, Alli signed for Spurs very late in the last winter transfer window before being allowed to continue contributing to the Buckinghamshire club’s promotion charge.

This arrangement proved mutually beneficial. While MK Dons profited on the pitch through promotion and financially from the sale, Tottenham received a teenager who was well versed in the rigours of professional football, despite his tender age.

Even the Londoners admit surprise over the fashion in which Alli has stamped his mark in ‘15/16, but if the same scouting network have identified Maddison, then it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that the young playmaker has a similar impact next term.

Since making his full Spurs bow in September, Alli really has become a lynchpin for the 8/15 top-four shots and is many people’s choice for a starting berth in Roy Hodgson’s England midfield heading into the Euros.

If Maddison’s rise is half as meteoric, it will still be impressive.

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