James Maddison's Toughest Year: From Injury to Fatherhood

James Maddison has lived the last year in two very different worlds.

On the outside, he was the injured star, the Tottenham playmaker with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, watching almost the entire 2025-26 season disappear from the sidelines. Inside his own house, he was something else entirely: a dad “in the trenches” with five children aged four and under, including two sets of twins, and a partner going through another pregnancy while his knee fell apart.

That contrast sits at the heart of his conversation with Kelly Somers in the first episode of the new series of The Football Interview, airing on BBC One at 12:45 every Saturday during the Premier League season and available on BBC iPlayer, BBC Football YouTube and the BBC Sport website and app.

‘The toughest year of my life’

Maddison does not sugar-coat it. The 29-year-old calls it “the toughest year of his life” after suffering a ruptured ACL last August and missing virtually the whole campaign.

Yet the chaos at home became his lifeline.

“I needed that positive distraction of my partner being pregnant and having to be there for her and forget about myself, even though I was going through a traumatic experience through my knee,” he tells Somers.

The house turned into a nursery on fast-forward.

“A lot of nappies flying about, a lot of accidents at home, but it'll all be worth it,” he says. “We still love it. I wouldn't change it for the world.”

The injury robbed him of a season. For his eldest son, Leo, it almost erased a version of his dad.

“I missed a year of football, and a year in a child's life – from three and a half to four and a half – it's obviously massive,” Maddison says. “He couldn't even remember over a year ago when he was at all the games.

“It would be nice for him to come to the games again and actually remember Dad playing instead of just Dad sat at home watching him with a machine on his knee.”

Watching Spurs suffer

While Maddison fought his own battle, Tottenham flirted with disaster. Spurs survived only on the final day, finishing two points above the relegation zone after a season drained of confidence and ideas.

For a player who built his reputation on unlocking defences, the helplessness bit hard.

“We probably struggled a little bit for creativity and I'm watching the games thinking, 'what would I be doing there?'” he admits.

He could not change it on the pitch. Someone else would have to change the mood.

De Zerbi’s reset

That someone arrived in March.

Roberto de Zerbi walked into a club tight with tension and chose, first, not to drown his players in tactics but to give them back something simpler: enjoyment.

“He's very clever. He's very tactical. He's obsessed with football, you can see that,” Maddison says. “But to be honest, when he first came in – in comparison to pre-season and what we're training now – he didn't want to make it too complicated. He just wanted us to get the love back for playing football.”

The Italian’s early moves were as much about atmosphere as shape. One of his first acts was to organise a team meal – with no hard lines about what the players could drink.

The 29-year-old recalls De Zerbi telling the squad: “We're all going to be drinking alcohol, we're all going to be having a good night.”

Maddison understood the message.

“He wanted us to have a night where we all just relax,” he says. “That feeling that we got made everyone feel more knitted together, straight away.”

De Zerbi also made a point of pulling Maddison back into the fold even before his knee was ready for real minutes. The midfielder had barely trained, but the new head coach wanted him on the bench.

“I was almost like, 'I'm not ready to play yet, boss',” Maddison says. “But he said no. He said I can come on the bench in my slippers if I want. He just wanted me around the group and he thought that would benefit the group.

“I took that as a massive compliment and just acted as if I was part of the bench, part of the team.

“I'm not saying that's the reason why, but we managed to steer clear of the danger, which was a good feeling.”

Maddison finally made his return on 11 May against Leeds, a symbolic step after months of rehab and doubt. Spurs had survived. He had, too.

Looking ahead

Pre-season has brought caution. Tottenham have not risked him so far, but Maddison sounds clear, focused and hungry.

“I'm working so hard to try and be fully fit and available for the majority of the season,” he says. “I want just a fully fit, healthy season where I can just enjoy football.

“Because if I'm fully fit and I'm healthy, then I know what I'm capable of. And I know that I can affect games more than a lot of players in this league. So, let's just hope for that.”

After a year of nappies, knee machines and near-relegation, hope at Tottenham suddenly has a name again – and it is back in the No 10 shirt.