Many at Tottenham Hotspur believe Oliver Skipp will achieve his dream of captaining the Premier League giants one day in the future, The Athletic reports with the ink drying on the midfielder’s new long-term contract.
Skipp by name, Skipper by nature?
Jose Mourinho once described a player who joined Spurs’ academy at the age of five as a captain-in-waiting and it seems he is not the only one who believes Skipp will one day be wrapping the armband around his bicep and leading the London giants out at their space-age stadium.
The England U21 international was rewarded for an excellent breakthrough season with a new deal until the summer of 2027 on Wednesday afternoon. Skipp has started 14 Premier League games this term, his combination of technique and tenacity making him a firm favourite of head coach Antonio Conte.
Skipp the skipper?
“This player is very young. He has a lot of space for improvement (but) plays with great intensity, great passion, with heart, with soul,” Conte told the Evening Standard.
“He has to improve with the ball, no? This player, without the ball, works very, very hard. For sure, the part that he has to improve is with the ball but, in one month, I have seen a lot of improvement in Skippy.”
The former Norwich City loanee has not started a league game since the dramatic 3-2 win at Leicester City in January, a niggling injury keeping him out of Conte’s XI – much to the Italian’s evident frustration.
Once Skipp returns to full fitness, expect to see him slot straight back into Tottenham’s engine room. Perhaps at the expense of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
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Hugo Lloris, Spurs’ veteran goalkeeper, remains the club’s long-serving captain. Like Skipp, he also signed a new deal recently. And it remains to be seen, when Lloris hands up his gloves, who the armband passes to next.
Harry Kane is the obvious candidate, presuming he’s still a Spurs player by the time Lloris departs. But do not rule out Skipp being given the nod instead.
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