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JAMES MADDISON has been banned from taking his shirt off when he scores for Tottenham – by his MUM.
The Spurs midfielder, 27, was ticked off by his parents for the automatic yellow card he received for whipping off his top during last month’s 3-1 win over Brentford.
Rex
InstagramAfter scoring a superb free-kick on Sunday in the 4-1 victory over Aston Villa, Maddison stopped himself from going topless once again.
His mum is an avid fan of Fantasy Football and players in the starting XI lose points if they are cautioned by the referee.
Maddison, who celebrates goals with a darts celebration, said: “I don’t know why I took my top off.
“My mum text me about this actually.
“She said ‘Keep your top on next time because I’ve got you in my Fantasy team and I got minus one for the yellow card.’
He laughed: “Sorry mum!”
Dead-ball specialist Maddison has vowed to continue channelling his inner David Beckham and score more free-kicks for Tottenham.
The 27-year-old feels he has not properly shown Spurs fans what he is capable of doing from stationary positions since he moved to North London from Leicester in the summer of 2023.
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The £40million recruit – who has scored seven Tottenham goals – spent countless hours in his garden as a kid, trying to copy Becks who was a free-kick wizard during his time at Manchester United.
The Spurs vice-captain said: “It can be difficult sometimes, the really close ones which are right on the edge.
“You haven’t got as much time to get it up-and-down, so it’s why I took it a little bit quicker.
“Not sure if you noticed but as soon as the whistle went, I was already leaning into it, to try and catch Martinez out a bit, because he’s a good goalkeeper.
“I used to watch Becks. I think last season was the first year I ever had in my whole career where I didn’t score a direct free-kick.
Tottenham's top 10 biggest signings: Hit or miss?
1) Tanguy Ndombele – £52.7m
Ndombele joined from Lyon in 2019 with huge expectations after shattering Tottenham’s transfer record.
But he would go on to play just 91 times for the club, scoring 10 goals and is now set to leave one year before the end of his contract.
2) Richarlison – £49.3m
Richarlison almost broke the £50m mark when he arrived from Everton in 2022 as Harry Kane’s back-up.
And while his tally of 12 goals this season was a significant increase on the three from his opening Spurs campaign, he is being linked with a departure this summer.
3) Brennan Johnson – £46.8m
Johnson was signed by Ange Postecoglou last summer and has impressed in patches during his first season in North London.
He scored five goals and 10 assists in 38 games and will look to build on that in the 2024/25 campaign.
4) Cristian Romero – £44.2m
Romero initially joined on loan from Atalanta in 2021, before his impressive displays saw him secure a permanent deal the following year.
He is two games shy of 100 for Spurs and, while he can be reckless with his tackling at times, is beginning to form a promising partnership with Micky van de Ven.
5) James Maddison – £39.4m
Maddison was handed Kane’s No10 shirt after arriving at Spurs and hit the ground running with three goals and five assists in his opening 11 matches.
But after getting injured against Chelsea in October, he failed to return with the same sharpness – managing just five goal contributions in 15 league matches as he missed out on England’s final 26-man squad for the Euros.
6) Davinson Sanchez – £35.7m
Sanchez joined Spurs from Ajax in 2017 and played more than 200 games across a six-year spell.
But he was always considered a somewhat erratic defender who did not play more than 20 games in a Premier League season from 2020 onwards.
7) Pedro Porro – £34m
Porro was another signing who originally arrived on loan in January 2023, before he signed permanently last summer.
He has 54 appearances for Spurs under his belt, scoring seven goals and impressing under Postecoglou this season.
8) Micky van de Ven – £34m
Rapid Dutch centre-back Van de Ven was named Spurs Player of the Season in his first campaign at the club.
His pace, athleticism, and technical ability on the ball have made him arguably Postecoglou’s best signing to date.
9) Moussa Sissoko – £29.8m
Sissoko came to North London for a substantial fee after being relegated with Newcastle and went on to enjoy five years at Tottenham, playing more than 200 games.
Unfortunately for the French midfielder, he is best-known for giving away a controversial penalty for handball in the first minute of Spurs’ 2-0 Champions League final defeat to Liverpool in 2019.
10) Giovani Lo Celso – £27.2m
Lo Celso joined on loan from Real Betis in 2019 – a deal that was made permanent the following season.
He has 10 goals and eight assists in 108 games, with some Spurs fans still unsure about the Argentine.
“I’ve scored quite a few, maybe 15-16 direct free-kicks. So it annoyed me last year that I didn’t get one.
“I know I can be dangerous from them. I probably haven’t shown it to Spurs fans yet.”
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