Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho made a pretty bold claim on Friday afternoon.
Speaking to Football London, Mourinho claimed that Oliver Skipp has a massive future with the North London club – and even said that he could very easily captain the club one day.
Thing is, Skipp is a 19-year-old kid with 13 Premier League appearances under his belt.
Making it at Tottenham is hard enough for a young player, especially a midfielder who saw the club spend £63 million on Tanguy Ndombele last summer, and comments like this don’t do Skipp any favours.
Some years ago, former Lilywhites boss Mauricio Pochettino likened Marcus Edwards to Lionel Messi in comments that the Argentine later admitted were a mistake.
Edwards, like Skipp, was a teenager at the time and although he’s certainly shining in Portugal at the moment, he’s a million miles from being the next Messi.
Similarly, Skipp is a million miles from captaining Tottenham and he should be allowed to develop with freedom, but now he’s already being judged on whether or not he gets the armband.
Mourinho, like Pochettino, has set an impossible standard for Skipp to reach here.
And it isn’t his fault if he doesn’t become Tottenham skipper one day – it’s Mourinho’s fault for putting it out there in the first place.
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