Five children, two sets of twins ease Maddison's injury recovery

Aug 22 : Five small children would be enough to test most parents, but for James Maddison the challenge came while recovering from a serious knee injury after the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder and his partner welcomed a second set of twins.

The 29-year-old ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament last August and spent most of the season on the sidelines, his lengthy rehabilitation coinciding with the arrival of a second pair of twins, taking the couple's family to five children aged 5 and under.

Maddison said family life helped take his mind off football, even if it meant swapping Premier League pressures for sleepless nights, nappies and the chaos of a young household.

"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.

"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, places Maddison's family in rare company. Tennis great Roger Federer and his wife Mirka also have two sets of twins, with twin girls born in 2009 and twin boys arriving five years later.

Maddison joked that his lengthy absence from football had left his eldest son Leo wondering whether his father still played for Spurs at all.

"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," he 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."

After a year on the sidelines, Maddison hopes to stay fit and available as Spurs begin their Premier League campaign against Brentford on Saturday.