Spurs made blunder with Oliver Skipp
An update has emerged on Tottenham Hotspur and the decision they made on Oliver Skipp during the January transfer window…
What’s the talk?
Football.london reported on deadline day that Antonio Conte rejected any possibility of the central midfielder departing the club on loan for the second half of the campaign.
Should Skipp have left on loan?
Yes
No
The report claimed that the England U21 international was keen on going away to get regular minutes under his belt after a difficult first half of the season.
Premier League sides Leeds United, Crystal Palace, Fulham, and Bournemouth were all interested in signing the gem but Conte refused to sanction any deal before the deadline passed.
Deadline day blunder
Conte committed a deadline day blunder by dismissing the chance to send the young midfielder out on loan as it could have been crucial to the dynamo’s development.
Pape Matar Sarr is set to return from injury this month and the Italian head coach already has Rodrigo Bentancur, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Yves Bissouma in that position, with the latter three all sitting on at least 800 minutes played in the Premier League this season.
Skipp, meanwhile, has only played 199 minutes in the division, suggesting that the mdfielder is fourth-choice, at best, in the middle of the park – potentially fifth if Sarr is preferred over him in the coming months.
Since returning from his loan spell with Norwich in the 2020/21 campaign, the 22-year-old has started just 17 Premier League matches for Spurs in over one-and-a-half seasons. He has been unable to kick on and earn his place as a regular starter in the side and this has, in turn, stunted his development.
After averaging a WhoScored rating of 6.90 in the Championship across 45 matches for the Canaries, Skipp averaged a score of 6.57 in the top flight in 2021/22 and is currently averaging a score of 6.11 in the current campaign.
These statistics indicate that the Englishman’s performances have regressed with less and less game time on the pitch and there is nothing to suggest that his minutes will drastically increase in the coming months, with Bentancur, Hojbjerg, and Bissouma all ahead of him in the pecking order.
Therefore, heading out on loan to play week-in-week-out in the Premier League for Leeds, Palace, Bournemouth, or Fulham, could have been a brilliant move for the £40k-per-week maestro, who was once dubbed “perfect” by ex-boss Daniel Farke, and one that could have allowed him to finally kick on and develop his performances at the top level.
Instead, Skipp looks set for a reserve role and limited minutes between now and the end of the season and, based on the evidence of the last 18 months, that could mean another four months of his career wasted at Hotspur Way instead of being able to grow and improve by gaining more experience.