Igor Tudor says Tottenham midfielder James Maddison could return from injury this season

James Maddison could return before the end of the season which would be a huge boost for Tottenham Hotspur in their fight against relegation.

Maddison has not made a single appearance for Spurs this season after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in a pre-season friendly against Newcastle United in South Korea in August.

The 29-year-old missed the end of the 2024-25 campaign, including Tottenham’s victory over Manchester United in the Europa League final, after suffering a knee injury against Bodo/Glimt in May. Both injuries were to his right knee.

Maddison was Tottenham’s second joint-top goalscorer in the Premier League last campaign and they have sorely missed his creativity. They were knocked out of the Champions League last 16 by Atletico Madrid earlier this week and are only one point above the bottom three. Spurs have eight top-flight games left this season and head coach Igor Tudor revealed there is hope that the midfielder can feature at some stage when he was asked for an update on the squad.

“We have this big three weeks after the game on Sunday (against Nottingham Forest),” Tudor said. “We need to check but (Mohammed Kudus) is progressing very well. Already a little bit with the ball. Rodrigo (Bentancur) as well. Maddison as well. We hope the medical staff will make us some nice surprise in the next weeks which would be very important to have that.”

Tudor was then asked to confirm if Maddison could play before the end of the season and he said “yes.”

“Maddison is already doing interesting things as well with the ball,” Tudor added. “Sprinting as well. I saw him. He is positive.”

Dominic Solanke missed Wednesday’s 3-2 Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid and did not take part in training on Friday but Tudor thinks he should be fit to face Forest, who are one place below Spurs in the table.

“Dom didn’t train, but probably tomorrow he will train with the team and he will be available,” said Tudor. “It is a problem with his hip, so he will be OK.”