Sold for £8m: Spurs' "dreadful" Poch flop is now outscoring Kulu & Maddison

This season has been a rough one for Tottenham Hotspur.

Ange Postecoglou’s side have been utterly ravaged by injuries, which has played a significant part in their exits from the FA Cup and League Cup, as well as their poor form in the Premier League, where they sit in 12th place.

However, this weekend finally brought some much-needed positivity, as against fellow strugglers Manchester United, the North Londoners turned up and came away with all three points courtesy of a James Maddison goal.

At his best, the Englishman can be one of the most dangerous midfielders in the league, just like Dejan Kulusevski, but surprisingly, the pair are being outscored by a former Spurs flop signed by Mauricio Pochettino and then sold for a loss almost six years ago.

Maddison and Kulusevski’s seasons so far

It would be fair to say that, much like Spurs overall, this season has been full of ups and downs for Maddison.

For example, the former Leicester City star has excelled in big matches, such as over the weekend or against Manchester City at the Etihad, where he scored a brace and was named the fans’ Player of the Match.

However, he’s also been taken out of the starting lineup on several occasions by the manager, with just 22 of his 32 appearances being starts, which has seen him play just 1931 minutes of first-team football, although, in that time, he’s been able to score ten goals and provide six assists, which is really quite impressive.

In contrast to his teammate, Kulusevski has been a near constant in the first team this season, and while his performances of late haven’t been quite up to the standard of those earlier in the campaign, he remains arguably the most important player in the team.

The former Juventus star has made 40 appearances, totalling 2940 minutes, in which he’s racked up an impressive tally of nine goals and ten assists, which comes out to a goal involvement every 2.10 games, or every 154.73 minutes.

However, while both players have enjoyed relatively fruitful campaigns in front of goal, they are being outscored by a former Spurs flop.

The Spurs flop outscoring Maddison and Kulusevski

While Pochettino was undoubtedly one of the best managers Spurs have had in recent history, he was responsible for his fair share of poor signings.

The likes of DeAndre Yedlin, Serge Aurier, Clinton N’Jie and Tanguy Ndombele all joined the North Londoners under the Argentine’s watch and were all incredibly disappointing.

Likewise, Vincent Janssen, who joined the club for around £19m in the summer of 2016 from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, also failed to live up to the expectations he set with his impressive performances in the 15/16 campaign.

For example, in just 49 appearances that season, the Heesch-born marksman racked up an incredible haul of 32 goals and seven assists, which works out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.25 games, so hopes were relatively high when he made his way to N17.

Unfortunately, things just didn’t work out in England, and in his first year, he produced just six goals and four assists in 38 games, which was enough to see him labelled “dreadful” by journalist John Laverty and sent to Fenerbahce on loan the following season.

Upon his return to London, he made just three appearances in the 18/19 campaign before being sold to Mexican outfit Monterrey for just £8m in July 2019.

Across three years in Mexico, the 22-capped international scored 24 goals and produced five assists in 93 games, which might not be a spectacular return, but it was good enough to earn him a move to Belgian side Royal Antwerp, where he has been a sensation.

In total, the 30-year-old poacher has scored 49 goals and provided 19 assists in 124 games for the Belgian outfit and played a pivotal role in their league-winning campaign in his first season with the club.

This season has seen the experienced marksman rack up an impressive haul of 11 goals and seven assists in just 30 appearances, which is one more than Maddison has managed and two more than Kulusevski.

Ultimately, Spurs were probably right to cut their losses on Janssen when they did, but we can’t help but wonder how the Dutchman would fare under the ultra-attacking Postecoglou, especially in light of Solanke’s recent injury.

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