Tottenham transfer rumour: Norwich City star James Maddison emerges January target for Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly considering an approach to sign Norwich City star James Maddison in the January transfer window.

The 21-year-old moved to Carrow Road on the deadline day of the 2016 January transfer window from Coventry City. He signed a three-and-a-half year deal with the Canaries and was immediately loaned back to the Ricoh Arena.

According to the Evening Standard, the north London club have been tracking the Championship midfielder since he joined Norwich in 2016. Norwich are keen on retaining the player beyond this month are hopeful of not losing Maddison.

He has been in fine form for Daniel Farke's side this season, scoring seven goals and registering five assists in the second division of club competition in England. Norwich are reluctant to do business in January, especially after sanctioning former Tottenham winger Alex Pritchard's sale to Huddersfield Town.

The report claims that Norwich will demand at least £20m ($27.5m) to let Maddison leave the club in the winter transfer market. Tottenham have allowed their winger Marcus Edwards to join the Championship side on loan for the remainder of this campaign.

Mauricio Pochettino's side remain hopeful of agreeing a deal with Norwich for Maddison midway through the season. Tottenham could sign the England Under-21 international in January and loan him back to the Canaries until the end of the 2017/18 season, just like they did with Dele Alli.

The England international was signed by Tottenham from lower league side MK Dons in February 2015. He rejoined his former club on loan until the end of that season before moving to the English capital club that same summer.

Pochettino has stressed the importance of tying up some deals for the summer in January. The Argentine manager cited Alli's transfer as an example in December and suggested that Tottenham need to act swiftly in the mid-season transfer window.

"The Dele signing is a very good example of the need to anticipate," Pochettino explained, as quoted by the Guardian.

"We cannot be reactive because if we are, we are going to lose. If we are going to compete in the same period with City, United, Liverpool or Chelsea, then we are going to struggle to bring in the players we want. Maybe we need to sign the player in January and they can join in the summer.

"We tried to make early signings last summer but we could not, for different reasons. Now, we are going to try again to do things early. If we cannot again, I am going to say: 'Come on, we could not again!'"

Tottenham are not the only club interested in signing Maddison. They will face competition from Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, Merseyside club Liverpool and Leicester City for the Norwich star.