Chelsea passed on the chance to sign James Maddison this summer, but their issue was nothing to do with age, according to Ben Jacobs.

Writing in his exclusive CaughtOffside column, Jacobs explained that although the Blues tended to favour younger players this summer, that wasn’t necessarily a decisive factor with Maddison and other players.

It seems one key issue with the former Leicester City man was that he preferred to join Tottenham anyway, and Chelsea were aware of that.

Jacobs says Maddison also favoured Spurs over Newcastle United, with the England international keen to move to London, and also to have his future resolved as soon as possible due to matters off the pitch.

Maddison has started well at Tottenham and those who saw him at Leicester won’t be too surprised by that, so some Chelsea fans will surely regret that their club couldn’t get a deal done for the talented 26-year-old playmaker.

“The average age of Chelsea’s new signings this summer is just 20.5. And the average squad age is 22.5. That shows the project has been all about transforming the team and planning for the future,” Jacobs wrote.

“Chelsea spent £448m this summer, taking their outlay over the last three windows to over £1bn. But they also recouped £295m in sales and loan fees. That part shouldn’t be forgotten either.

“Chelsea’s strategy has been to largely look at players 25-years-old and under. And it’s true they passed up on going for James Maddison, who is now 26. But that wasn’t really down to age alone.

“There will always be exceptions to the age ‘rule’. After all, Mauricio Pochettino is also very keen on having Premier League experience. That’s why Raheem Sterling is seen as so important this season.

“Chelsea looked at lots of targets, which is normal in a busy window. But they also knew Maddison preferred the move to Spurs. Maddison wanted London, which also counted against Newcastle who were very keen at one point but had moved on prior to Spurs’ bid. Maddison also wanted to settle his future quickly having just had new-born twins.”

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