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Oliver Skipp to Leicester City transfer - verdicts from Jose Mourinho, Ange Postecoglou and Antonio Conte
Story by Peter Smith - Leicestershire LiveThe former England youth midfielder has come through the ranks at Spurs and we have gone back through the archives to look at what has been said about the player by the coaches who have shaped his career to date.
At the age of 23, he is hungry for the next chapter, a new place to call home and play regularly, so this is an insight into the man who Steve Cooper hopes to make his seventh signing of the summer.
Ange Postecoglou: ‘He maintains an intensity with and without the ball’
Skipp went pretty much straight into the Premier League season after the European under-21s Championships last summer, when he was trying to catch the eye of new Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou.
“Obviously he didn’t have much of a break but since he’s been in he’s got bags of energy and he uses that really well,” Postecoglou was saying this time last year. “He maintains an intensity with and without the ball that makes him hard to contend with.”
The midfielder went on to fill in at left-back at times and he was seen as a decent option there in a side that encouraged its full-backs to come inside.
Postecoglou said in May: "We have been working with Skippy the last few weeks. When we lost Destiny and Ben, we were left with Emerson who is not really a left-back. We were looking around at options and in training we have been using him in that space.
“The way we play with full-backs, certainly with some of the positioning, he wouldn’t be too unfamiliar with the positions he would need to take up.”
Lee Carsley, then England under-21s manager: 'He has outstanding ability'
Carsley has overseen Skipp's progress with England at youth level, winning the European Championships last summer.
He said: "I've known Oli for a while. He's very underrated. He's one of those players that when they are not in the team you notice them. He goes about his business really well. Works on his game. I think he's still got a lot of development to do.
"He's going to get better, he's going to get stronger. Physically he'll improve the older he gets. He has outstanding ability."
Antonio Conte: ‘The future of Tottenham’
Antonio Conte heaped praise on Skipp after a Champions League tie at AC Milan back in early 2023, calling him and Pape Sarr the ‘present and the future of Tottenham’. Conte would leave the following month however.
“I’m really happy about the performance from Skippy and Pape Sarr,” he said back then. “Honestly to play in this way in the Champions League and to play in the San Siro in this atmosphere, I think that normally it’s tough for important players.
“They played a really good game and I’m really happy. This type of performance makes me more relaxed for the future because we have to consider that we could finish the season with only three midfielders, Pape Sarr, Skippy and Pierre Hojbjerg.
“To have this type of performance makes me more relaxed because I know that I can count on these two players 100 per cent and I’m really happy for them. They will be the future for Tottenham but at the same time they will be the present. I have to consider them important players.”
Daniel Farke: ‘A top player and a top character’
Daniel Farke signed Skipp on loan for Norwich back in 2020/21 when they went on to win promotion to the Premier League as Championship champions.
“I am always careful to praise young lads too much, I like to keep the pressure high on them because in these times they are celebrated so much by social media, agents and things like this,” said Farke at the end of that season.
“It’s difficult also for young players to handle that praise so I am quite careful in praising them too much but actions are more important than any words and when you look at Oliver’s season you can realise that he has played more or less every second in the league for us, for a side that has lots of competition in the squad.
“This says a lot about how much I rate him and how much I value him, I don’t want to praise him too much in public, it’s more like each and every day I keep on criticising him. I ask for more goals, for more assists, better passing choices, for many topics to improve – but my actions speak louder than my words. He plays each and every second for more or less each and every game for such a good side. He’s a top player and also a top character.”
Jose Mourinho: ‘He can be more than a player, he can be a future captain’
Jose Mourinho handed Skipp a long-term deal at Spurs back in 2020 before reluctantly sanctioning that loan to Norwich for Skipp’s development.
“He's one of these players by human quality, by personality, he is one of these kids that I have no doubt will be an important player for Tottenham,” he said at the time.
“I never told him I want him to go on loan, I always told him I wanted him to stay here, because that's the selfish perspective of a coach who wants the best possible squad. In his mind he wants to go on loan, six months, the whole season. He feels that he needs that, I also feel that would be good for his evolution, so maybe that is the direction we go.
“I think he can be more than a player, he can be a future captain here. Hugo (Lloris), Harry (Kane). I see this kid being one day a future captain here by his character, by his personality. I feel really happy that he signed.”
Former Spurs youth coach Saul Isaksson-Hurst: ‘Very good on the ball and likes to play’
Skipp always stood out as he came through the ranks, says former academy coach Saul Isaksson-Hurst.
“Skipp was always one of the strongest in the group. He had great technical skills, was very intelligent and has a really high football IQ, and a generally high IQ as well. He’s a very clever young man," he told Football Insider earlier this year.
“He definitely stood out and worked really hard. Physically, he was good as well in terms of his size – not necessarily the quickest at the time, but he was always one of the strongest.
“He’s very good on the ball and likes to play, so I think all modern-day managers who want to keep the ball need players who can play under pressure and play forward. Skippy is really good at that.”
Mauriccio Pochettino: ‘The difference between a top player and a normal player’
Mauriccio Pochettino gave Skipp his Spurs senior debut back in 2018 when the player was just 18.
He said back then: "I think he played like a 30-year-old man -- so relaxed, trying to play forward and trying to give the team what the team needs, with plenty of energy, full energy.
"I'm so proud of him. He's only 18 years old and it was fantastic. Now I think it's going to be easy for him because always in your debut you're nervous.
"I said to him, 'You look so relaxed. When I was 17, going to play, I was so nervous.' I said, 'That's the difference between a player [who's] going to be a top player and a player who was going to be normal player, like me.'
