A top source believes James Maddison will no longer be a Leicester player next season, and Tottenham and Newcastle have both been namechecked as preparing to ignite a transfer battle.

Maddison, 26, is consistently one of the league’s most potent attacking weapons year after year. Indeed, Maddison has notched 14 goal contributions in 19 Premier League encounters this season. That’s doubled down on a remarkable campaign the year prior in which Maddison plundered 30 goals and assists combined across all competitions.

The i newspaper recently reported Leicester will attempt to tie Maddison down to a new and improved contract over the summer. At that point, he’ll only have 12 months left on his current deal.

However, the i insisted Maddison is weighing up his options and at present, his intention is not to extend his stay with the Foxes.

That’ll alert the decision-makers at Newcastle who saw two bids for Maddison – the biggest worth £50m – rejected last summer.

The Magpies believes Maddison is a gettable target, though won’t have a move all to themselves.

Indeed, speaking on Steve Wraith’s YouTube channel, trusted journalist Ben Jacobs stressed Tottenham are in the mix too.

Spurs’ midfield lacks a creative spark and few Premier League-proven options could remedy their woes quite like Maddison.

Jacobs explained Leicester have zero chance of retaining Maddison in the event they’re relegated this season. However, even if they do surge clear of the drop, Jacobs revealed the prevailing feeling at the King Power is Maddison will move.

The Foxes will reportedly attempt to extend Maddison’s stay, as the i also claimed. However, per Jacobs, that’s not a scenario that looks likely at present.

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Leicester no longer the best place for Maddison – Jacobs

“Difficult for Leicester to hold onto James Maddison,” said Jacobs. “Obviously, if they go down, they’ll be losing Maddison, there’s no way he’ll stay in the Championship.

“He’s at that point in his career, where off the back of a World Cup where he was called up, he wasn’t fit for large parts of it, but when he recovered and trained he didn’t get any minutes.

“He will be acutely aware that his best chance of being an integral player for the 2026 World Cup is to get two to three seasons of European football.

“Leicester’s not the place to do that at the moment. He had a fantastic season last campaign, a brilliant start to this campaign before he got injured.

“I think there’s a real feeling even though Leicester would love to offer him a new deal, that the time is right for him to leave. There’s a range of suitors like Newcastle and Tottenham starting to circle.”

Leicester turned down an offer of £50m for Maddison in the last summer window. The fact he’ll be entering the last year of his deal 12 months on will weaken the Foxes’ bargaining position.

However, if Newcastle and Tottenham do go head-to-head for the Englishman, a bidding war is likely to see Leicester extract maximum value.

Given Maddison’s attacking exploits in recent seasons, a deal worth £60m+ may still turn out to be excellent value for money for whoever does take the plunge.

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The article Tottenham and Newcastle battle to sign James Maddison ignites, as trusted source reveals Leicester intentions appeared first on Teamtalk.com.