James Maddison's Journey Back to Football and Fatherhood

James Maddison has never been short of responsibility on a football pitch. The real test came at home.

As the Tottenham Hotspur playmaker fought his way back from a serious knee injury, he and his partner welcomed a second set of twins, taking their young family to five children aged five and under. Rehabilitation schedules met school runs. Gym sessions gave way to night feeds.

The 29-year-old ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament last August and spent almost the entire campaign watching Spurs from the sofa, his right knee strapped to a machine. In the middle of that, his partner’s pregnancy became his anchor.

"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 told BBC Sport.

The chaos at home became his new normal. Sleepless nights instead of Saturday night lights. Nappies instead of nutmegs.

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

The second set of fraternal twins — a boy and a girl — puts Maddison in a very select club. Roger Federer and his wife Mirka famously have two sets of twins as well, twin girls born in 2009 and twin boys in 2014. It is rare territory, even for elite athletes used to unusual lives.

The long spell out also altered how his eldest son, Leo, sees him. For a four-year-old, a season is a lifetime.

"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 said.

"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."

That is the next target. After a year on the sidelines, Maddison’s aim is simple: stay fit, stay on the pitch, and let his children see what their dad actually does for a living.

Tottenham open their Premier League campaign against Brentford on Saturday. Maddison wants to be out there, not just for Spurs, but for the little boy who once thought his father’s job was sitting on the sofa with an ice pack.