Players like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Neymar and Mohamed Salah have dominated the headlines for years, but there will inevitably come a time when they will have to hand over their throne to the next generation. In the Toppers van Morgen section, Voetbalzone puts a potential successor to these greats in the limelight every time. Who are in the spotlight at the biggest clubs and should therefore not be missing from your own watchlist? This time the focus is on Oliver Skipp, who will be piloting Norwich City to the Premier League as a mercenary from Tottenham Hotspur.
By Thijs Verhaar
The Canaries are on track to return to England’s highest level within a season. Norwich is unapproachable in the Championship this year and is seven rounds before the end no less than seventeen points ahead of the number three Brentford, which still has a make-up match. A place in the best two Norwich has therefore hardly escaped notice and the first place has almost been won, given the comfortable eight-point lead over Watford. The team of trainer Daniel Farke as a team is simply a lot more constant than the competition and, with men like Max Aarons, Todd Cantwell and Emiliano Buendía, also has several strongholds who effortlessly rise above the level of the competition on an individual basis.
Yet twenty-year-old Tottenham mercenary Oliver Skipp is the most eye-catching player. As so often this season, he played an excellent game last Saturday during a stuffy 0-1 win over Derby County. He is the balance keeper in midfield, where he forms an excellent duo with the more attacking-minded Kenny McLean in the efficient 4-2-3-1 system. The latter knows that he can attack to his heart’s content, because Skipp closes the gaps with his sublime insight into the game. “We can consider ourselves lucky that Oliver is playing with us. He makes my job a lot easier with his game. He really has a very bright future ahead of him ”, McLean exulted afterwards, knowing that he will probably only meet his partner in the Premier League next season as an opponent.
Norwich would love to extend the lease with the Young England international for a season, but the chance seems nil that Tottenham will cooperate in this. Skipp has been playing with the Londoners since he was seven, where he has a lot of confidence according to youth academy Chris Powell. “He has gone through our entire youth academy and is always called up to the England representative teams,” Powell explains. Sky Sports. “He’s also doing great at Norwich now, where he only missed one game due to international commitments. He himself chose to experience what professional football entails and what you have to do to win matches. He has handled all of that very well ”, praises the policymaker.
That seems like a pretty standard story of a clubman who gives a young talent some extra confidence, but a sentence attracts attention. Skipp has chosen to be rented out for a year, because Tottenham coach José Mourinho did not want to lose him at all. The Portuguese already confirmed this last summer, when the young midfielder signed a new contract until mid-2024. “Sometimes trainers are selfish and that’s what I said to Oliver. I never told him I want him to be hired because I want him to stay here to make sure I have the strongest team possible. However, he thinks he needs a rental period. I also know that that can be good for his personal development, so it will be heading in that direction. ”
Nevertheless, Mourinho was quite disappointed when the deal with Norwich was actually finalized, because he sees a major role for Skippy. “I am very happy that he has signed up, because he is the future of Tottenham. I really believe that. He is one of the young guys who I am sure will be important players for this club. In fact, he can be much more than just a good player. I think he can become a future captain ”, said Mourinho, who praises his character in addition to Skipp’s footballing qualities. “He has a fantastic personality, is very mature for his age. I am very happy that he has committed his future to this club. ”
Mourinho is of no use to this this season, because his young eye is currently shining 150 kilometers away at Norwich, while Tottenham is in danger of grabbing next to Champions League qualification due to the moderately occupied midfield, which does not support the defense sufficiently. Mourinho has been looking for his ideal midriff all season long, but cannot find the right balance. Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg does reach a nice level, but Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombélé too often do not feel comfortable in a controlling role. The Portuguese is therefore eagerly looking forward to the return of Skipp, who recently indicated that he was satisfied with his choice to move to Norwich for a year. “It’s a great season for me. I now play every game in the Championship. That is of course not a Premier League level, but it is still a very challenging competition. ”
Skipp already made his debut in the first team of Tottenham at the age of eighteen, but did not immediately grow into a basic player under then trainer Mauricio Pochettino. Mourinho also gave him the chance only sporadically last season, resulting in a meager number of 298 playing minutes. He also played most of it in two meaningless cup games in which the youth and substitutes acted for the big stars of the team. It does speak in favor of the Portuguese that he gave Skipp three times the confidence in the last four league matches with a substitute. Still, according to the fanatical supporters, the young Englishman was quite right when he indicated that he wanted to be hired out. However, the question is whether he would have made the same decision with the knowledge of today, because he shows on a weekly basis that he is already too good for the Championship and could have easily played in the first team of Tottenham.
At the second level of England, he actually always gets a good pass with the upcoming champion Norwich, which is also evident from the figures of FootballCritic. The website gives all players a rating between zero and one hundred and is based on the last 1,800 minutes of play in which someone took action. By measuring over such a long period, it is crystal clear how constant players are performing. Since consistency is very difficult for young footballers, Skipp’s score (70) is excellent. This means that he is one of the fifty most consistent players under the age of 21 worldwide, while he gets a lower resistance score than the young talents who are currently active in a top competition. A much higher score is therefore possible for Skipp if he also manages to hold his own in midfield next season The Spurs.
It wouldn’t be fair to expect him directly to solve all problems for Tottenham, but he can certainly contribute to reducing the number of goals against. That is always the first priority for trainer Mourinho. At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, however, that has not yet worked, which immediately makes it clear why he would have loved to keep Skipp there. The young Englishman is an excellent balafacker, while he also has a good lead-in pass and, a la Frenkie de Jong, dares to dribble under pressure to initiate a fast attack. On his debut as an eighteen-year-old, Pochettino already stated that Skipp was there as an experienced thirties and now the regular England Under-21 at Norwich has actually made the necessary flying hours that will make him return stronger next season. Only Mourinho now has no use at all. The Portuguese can only hope that he enforces European football without his young eye, because otherwise he will most likely no longer be at the helm when Skipp starts his glory tour in London.