Gareth Southgate named Tottenham youngster Ryan Sessegnon as one of the players abroad he’s keeping an eye on earlier this week, but we can’t help but feel that he’s looking at the wrong uncapped Spurs youngster.
Now, that isn’t to say that Sessegnon isn’t worthy of being in the England reckoning. After all, he’s a £25m player and he’s been earning a lot of plaudits for his performances in the Bundesliga this season.
However, if any young Tottenham player is in line to earn their first England cap, surely it’s Oliver Skipp.
Yes, Skipp is only playing in the Championship, but let’s not forget that Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips was handed his first cap before playing a single minute of Premier League football.
Leeds fans, Spurs fans and Norwich fans are all likely to have differing views on this point, but there is a very good argument to make that Skipp is actually performing at a similar level to Kalvin Phillips last season, if not a higher level.
Much like Leeds, Norwich are running away with things in the second division, and much like Phillips, Skipp is their star player in the holding midfield role, earning plaudits on seemingly a weekly basis.
However, unlike Phillips last August, Skipp has already got experience of playing top-level football, having played 15 times in the Premier League and even twice in the Champions League, and that’s before we even mention the numerous appearances he has for England’s youth sides.
The precedent has been set with Phillips getting a call-up while he was a Championship player, and Skipp is just as worthy has the Leeds star was last summer.
Southgate is right to have his eye on Spurs’ young loan army, but Sessegnon isn’t the one he needs to be focusing on, Skipp is.
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