Forget Lionel Messi, Alexis Mac Allister and Jude Bellingham - James Maddison is the signing of the summer transfer window for Spurs at just £40m

Maddison's consistency after arriving at Leicester from Coventry City was pretty spectacular. He entered his first season with lofty expectations as the Foxes parted with a record fee for a Championship player to secure his services, but he hit the ground running, with no player in Europe's top-five leagues - not even Lionel Messi - creating more chances than him during the 2018-19 season. The arrival of Brendan Rodgers partway through that campaign coincided with a significant improvement in his overall game the following season.

Although he registered fewer assists, only Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Bruno Fernandes averaged more goal-creating actions per 90 minutes during 2019-20. Maddison's performances helped Leicester to a fifth-placed finish, and they likely would have broken into the Champions League qualification spots too, if their playmaker-in-chief did not pick up an untimely hip injury in April 2020.

The 2020-21 season was Maddison's best yet as he racked up 15 Premier League goal involvements, despite again being troubled by the same knock. He improved on this further in 2021-22, where he managed 12 goals and eight assists, despite Leicester becoming a far less well-functioning team than they had been previously.

These incremental improvements tells the story of a player who took on more and more responsibility with each passing season. And, heading into the 2022-23 campaign, a Leicester team riddled with problems on and off the field knew they would have to lean upon their talisman more than ever.

We all know how it ended, but it's worth highlighting that, for the most part, Maddison's reputation has emerged from Leicester's doomed 2022-23 season relatively unscathed. Ironically, from a statistical perspective, it was one of the midfielder's most productive campaigns.

He ended the season with 10 goals and nine assists, chipping in with some vital contributions along the way. Maddison was unplayable against Nottingham Forest in October, grabbing a fine brace and setting up Patson Daka in a dominant 4-0 win.

Handed the armband against new club Tottenham in February, he produced a captain's display, scoring and assisting in a 4-1 victory. This was supposed to provide the springboard for Leicester to pull away from the relegation zone. However, a nine-game losing run followed, with Maddison's performances falling off a cliff too.

During this dire period, it became increasingly clear that Leicester were depending on their creative fulcrum far too much - and it was getting to him. During the run-in, Maddison was infuriating to watch at times. Not only was he often trying too hard to dig his side out of the hole single-handedly, his on-field body language was overtly negative. More than once he threw his limbs about in frustration at his team-mates as they slipped further and further into relegation trouble.

As Leicester edged towards the trap door, a tweet Maddison sent back in March gained a second life. The player had responded to a piece written by Athletic journalist Rob Tanner in which he opined that all the ingredients were there for the Foxes to be relegated following a damaging defeat to Southampton.

Maddison took exception, replying: "Rubbish. Watch and analyse the game properly and stop writing headlines like that which you know makes fans pile on with negativity. Play like that and we’ll be absolutely fine. Created numerous brilliant chances and win comfortably on another day."

Retrospectively, at best it comes across as ill-judged. At worst, it was downright arrogant. It also speaks to the pressure Maddison was feeling to be a leader in the dressing room and on the pitch during the second half of the season.

This mental toll affected his on-field displays, too. In a crunch meeting with Bournemouth in April, Maddison's horrendous attempted back pass allowed Dominic Solanke to slip through and score the only goal of the game. A few weeks later, he stepped up to take a penalty against Everton, only to see it saved by Jordan Pickford. This provided the Toffees with the impetus to recover and earn a point - a result that played a significant role in sending Leicester down.

It a worth noting that Maddison assisted Jamie Vardy in the very same game and also set up the same team-mate to score against Leeds the previous week. But still, there remains a feeling that he struggled with carrying the lionshare of his side's attack last season when the stakes were at their highest.

This context is important in relation to his move to Tottenham. It would be easy to focus on Maddison playing for a relegated team last season and in turn dismiss his arrival as a criminal overpay. However, Spurs are likely to offer the 26-year-old the exact environment he needs to recover from a mentally-draining season. Maddison is coming into a squad where he won't be expected to be the main man.

Provided he doesn't seal a move to Bayern Munich, Harry Kane will be performing that role, alongside Son Heung-min. Freed from that responsibility, Maddison will have the headspace to focus solely on feeding his team-mates or scoring goals himself. It should be a perfect fit.

In a tactical sense, Maddison should be right at home at Tottenham too. It's expected that Ange Postecoglou will be using his preferred 4-3-3 system in north London this season. This features two wide forwards and two shuttling No.8s either side of a holding midfield player. Although Maddison has some experience in the frontline, it is far more likely that he will be performing the latter role, where he has thrived since Rodgers stopped playing playing him as a No.10.

Postecoglou has tended to have his wide forwards hug the touchline, in turn creating the opportunity for an underlapping full-back or midfielder to occupy the half space. This area of the field is Maddison's bread and butter. From here, he can pick out through balls to a striker, beat a few players and fire off a shot, or win a free-kick. Provided the system can be implemented properly, it really is an ideal position for Maddison.

He should not have any issues dealing with his new manager's demands out of possession either. In Scottish Premiership games, Postecoglou tended to favour pressing high and with energy. Maddison is no shrinking violet in this regard. He works extremely hard and has regularly posted some of the best defensive numbers for a player of his profile in the Premier League over the past few seasons.

As the player himself said back in summer 2021: "Being a number eight has made me add that defensive side to my game. I’m never going to be a big tackler, I’m never going to go around smashing people. It’s that awareness and that responsibility of getting little toes in, little interceptions, because as a number eight you find yourself deeper a lot, so I’ve had to add that."

Not only are Spurs getting a player who suits what they are trying to do under their new manager, they are also picking him up for pretty good value. English players come at infamously inflated prices, which helps put Maddison's £40m price tag into some sort of context.

Even though his contract is running down, Spurs are still set to pay significantly less than United potentially will for Mount, with Chelsea holding out for £60m. Is he £20m better than Maddison? Probably not. That's almost one whole Mateo Kovacic.

It's such a low-risk deal too. Maddison's body of work proves he can hit the ground running this season - something that will have heavily appealed to the club's under-fire owners. He's oven ready, with no transition period required, something which has stung the club in recent years in the cases of Bryan Gil, Pedro Porro and Ivan Perisic.

Spurs won't care, but this is a deal that also works from Leicester's perspective too. Last season's relegation was the nadir of the club's King Power ownership on the pitch, but the early signs are that lessons may have been learned.

While the Foxes will be worse off this season without Maddison in the team, they can use the funds to complete a much-needed rebuild under incoming manager Enzo Maresca. No new arrivals have been confirmed yet, but it's been reported that Leicester are closing in on the signings of Harry Winks, Conor Coady and Joel Piroe. There is also interest in USMNT goalkeeper Zack Steffen and ex-Arsenal youngster Zach Awe.

It's impossible to leave a club 'well' when you've been relegated. But after enough time has passed, Maddison will likely be remembered as one of the best players of the club's modern era.

The efficient nature of this deal has been extremely refreshing too. This summer, perhaps more so than ever, has been saturated by a string of tiresome transfer sagas, with briefing and counter-briefing fuelling a never-ending spiral of speculation.

The Premier League are persistent offenders in this regard, and it's been more of the same this summer, with every micro-update on Declan Rice's future being amplified across social media in a matter of minutes. But the emergence of the Saudi Pro League as a legitimate destination for the top players in Europe has added another layer of complexity to the transfer market.

Maddison's move to Tottenham, in stark contrast, has been mercifully simple; two clubs negotiating professionally and reaching an agreement away from the media spotlight. And what a piece of business it is too.