James Maddison was back at his very best in Tottenham’s 3-1 victory over Brentford in Premier League action on Saturday. The England international had made an electric start to life in north London after his £40million move from Leicester City in the summer of 2023.

An ankle injury hugely derailed his debut campaign at Spurs with the attacking midfielder struggling to get back to the levels he showed in his first few months at the club. Glimpses of his quality have been on show in the opening weeks but, until Saturday’s win, he had failed to stamp his mark on a game.
It was his relentless pressing that helped Spurs equalise after Bryan Mbeumo’s early opener. After winning possession back, his shot was palmed into the path of Dominic Solanke who opened his Tottenham account following a £65million move from Bournemouth in the most recent trading period.

For Brennan Johnson’s goal that put Ange Postecoglou’s side in front, Maddison intercepted a pass in Brentford’s defensive half before finding Son Heung-min in acres of space. The South Korea international then forwarded the ball onto Johnson who proceeded to fire past Mark Flekken for his second goal in four days.

Having done all the dirty work, Maddison got his just reward by scoring his first goal of the season after finishing a fast break in the final stages to put the game beyond Brentford. In his post-match press conference, Postecoglou was asked about Maddison’s performance with his response telling of how he epitomised the game plan.

“Yeah, I thought he was good,” the Lilywhites boss said. “I thought the whole team was good. Everyone was really focused on making sure we dominated the game in the areas we want to dominate. We kind of knew that they’d try and play out a bit.

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Brennan Johnson has had quite the week. Following the north London derby the Tottenham winger was forced to delete his Instagram page.

The Welshman was a target of vile abuse across social media after his display against the Gunners but it’s a testament to his character as to how he’s bounced back over the last two games.

Johnson scored the winning goal against Coventry City in the EFL Cup and then scored once again when Brentford visited Spurs on a Saturday afternoon.

The former Nottingham Forest star went from the boo boy to the saviour. It now really does feel like his Tottenham career is off the ground.

Johnson’s career could hardly be considered a failure up to this point but Spurs have signed some notable duds throughout the years in the forward positions.

Remember Roberto Soldado? Of course, you do. Remember Clinton N’Jie? Yikes, Daniel Levy hasn’t always got things right, has he?

Johnson can count his lucky stars that he wasn’t quite as bad as a certain Vincent Janssen was for the Lilywhites.

Vincent Janssen’s time at Spurs

In the summer of 2016, the London club raided the Netherlands to bring AZ Alkmaar striker Vincent Janssen to White Hart Lane in an £18.6m deal.

Upon his arrival in the Premier League, Mauricio Pochettino was seemingly delighted to be adding to his strike force which included rising star Harry Kane, suggesting the Dutchman “ticked all of the boxes that we needed.”

Well, if those boxes included the words ‘failed signing’ then he certainly did tick that.

The forward’s time on English shores was sadly unsuccessful as the now 30-year-old scored just six goals across 42 outings before departing for Monterrey in Mexico.
Now playing for Royal Antwerp in Belgium, Janssen has rediscovered himself, finding the net on 17 occasions during the 2023/24 season.

It could have been oh-so different for the Netherlands international. It could have been incredibly different for Spurs too who missed out on a certain Kylian Mbappe the same year Janssen signed.

When Spurs missed out on Kylian Mbappe

We’re casting your minds back to the winter of 2015/16 with this famed tale. It was a cold December evening when Daniel Levy was impressed with what he saw of a teen Mbappe.

He appeared as a second-half substitute for Monaco against Pochettino’s side in the Europa League where a 16-year-old Mbappe swiftly picked up an assist. After that, scouts were reportedly sent to watch the player in action but sadly a move did never materialise.