Despite James Maddison’s fantastic start to the season, former Spurs striker turned pundit, Darren Bent, has insisted Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard is still better.
James Maddison has been a revelation since joining Tottenham in the summer. The England international cost Spurs just £40m, signing from relegated Leicester City, and has been heralded by many as Harry Kane‘s replacement.
The playmaker has quickly endeared himself to the Spurs faithful with a string of brilliant performances, and has even been named one of the vice-captains under Ange Postecoglou.
Maddison has five assists to his name already this year (Transfermarkt), more than anyone else in the Premier League. He added to that tally on Saturday afternoon, laying the ball into Micky van de Ven to score the winner against Luton Town.
The 26-year-old was named Premier League Player of the Month for August, and has carried that good form into September and October, too.
(Photo by Chloe Knott – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Is Maddison better than Ødegaard?
Last month, Darren Bent took a bet from Jermaine Jenas as to who would end the season with more goal involvements – Maddison, or Martin Odegaard (talkSPORT).
Now, even though Maddison is continuing to outperform his Arsenal counterpart, Bent has doubled down. In an appearance on talkSPORT this week, Bent insisted he would still pick Ødegaard over Maddison.
“Odegaard is the better player. Okay, he has had a couple of bad games, but over the last 18 months, Odegaard has been unbelievable,” Bent said.
Co-host Andy Goldstein then suggested Bent can’t make that claim based on this season’s displays, but Bent replied: “I’m still going to go for Ødegaard.”
Spurs Web Opinion
You just can’t take people like Darren Bent seriously when he is making claims like this. He’s admitted Ødegaard is not in the best form, he can clearly see how well Maddison is playing, but he’s never going to admit the Spurs man is better right now. No one is denying how good Ødegaard is, but Madders is simply in better form.
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