Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas explains why he would take Tottenham's James Maddison over Arsenal's Martin Odegaard

Jermaine Jenas says he would rather have James Maddison than Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard in his team as the England midfielder has “transformed Tottenham on his own” since his summer arrival.

Maddison joined Spurs from Leicester City and has settled quickly, helping fire Ange Postecoglou’s side to the summit of the Premier League table.

Spurs finished eighth last season and failed to qualify for Europe, but they have started the new campaign brightly and sit top after six wins and two draws in eight games, level with rivals Arsenal on 20 points.

“I was having this discussion recently with an Arsenal fan around Odegaard and James Maddison,” Jenas told TNT Sports.

“The guy said 'you would always take Odegaard over Maddison' and I'm like - 'why?'

“I'm not that convinced by it. Odegaard is a special talent, so is James Maddison.

“It's more to do with how he [Maddison] has transformed a team on his own.

“That's the biggest fear for Spurs, Maddison's fitness and maintaining that all year, because you take him out of that team, it looks totally different.

“He is a top-class talent who is on the verge of becoming a world-class talent as soon as he gets onto that stage.”

Maddison’s impact at Spurs, along with that of new boss Postecoglou, has got Spurs fans excited about the future once again after a difficult 2022/23 campaign where Antonio Conte, Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason all had spells in charge.

The summer exit of captain and all-time top scorer Harry Kane to Bayern Munich threatened to have a detrimental impact on the club’s hopes for the season, but they have impressed in his absence.

That said, former Spurs midfielder Jenas will not entertain any argument that the side has improved since the England skipper left.

“You're always going to miss Harry Kane,” said Jenas.

“I've watched a lot of games this year where you're looking at the way that they play, the chances they're creating, and Harry would already have a bag full of goals.

"He would buy into Ange’s style of football, he would be excited by the high pressing energy type of football. I'll never listen to anybody who tells me that this team is better without Harry Kane.

“A lot of fans will say that now based on where they are. Harry Kane's a world-class striker and with him in this team, [they would] have a chance of doing something really special.

“I think that's the difference that we're looking at here...they definitely miss him.”

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media