Despite the major setback of his injury, Oliver Skipp had some good news on Wednesday as Tottenham announced his new contract. The new deal will keep the 21-year-old at the club for another five years, which is pleasing for all Spurs fans to hear, with his potential already seen since his return from his loan spell at Norwich.
This season and before his pelvic injury Skipp had made 28 appearances and was improving game by game, often playing alongside Pierre Emile Hojbjerg. The midfielder only had a few months to work with Antonio Conte before his injury, which he is still working to recover from.
"I don't know if you remember the third or fourth game of the season, with England, I came back and I think it was the Crystal Palace game so it dates quite far back in terms of I've been having a problem, but I've been managing to get through it. Come the international break I had an injection which other players have had in the past and the hope was that the original pain would go and that's not been the case," the Englishman admitted in his interview with Spurs, after signing the new contract.
READ MORE: Oliver Skipp provides surprising injury update after signing new five-year Tottenham contract
"There's been various times when I've felt like I was getting there but with the nature of this injury it hasn't materialised that I've come back yet. It's been a really frustrating time for me. The most difficult part has been the unknown. When I was out before you knew you had a set time, two months etc, but with this one it was just about being patient and it's something that happens in football careers and I'll definitely make sure that when I'm back I'll be right."
On Wednesday evening Skipp was live on Tottenham's Twitch channel to speak about his new contract and answer some questions. The midfielder spoke about Luka Modric being his favourite player when he joined the academy and the likes of Ben Davies and Harry Winks helping him settle in when he first broke into the first team, with the latter also coming from the Tottenham academy.
Since the announcement of the 21-year-old's new contract, some fans have even been calling for Skipp to become the next Spurs captain. The youngster has already had plenty of first-team experience, with his loan spell at Norwich and his 18 Premier League appearances just the season.
Despite his age, the England international has a maturity on the pitch and in the way he speaks off it and responded to the calls for him to be the next Tottenham skipper. "I think there's a few candidates for that as well," Skipp admitted.
"Hugo's [Lloris] been brilliant as a captain. Obviously people like Harry [Kane] have been at the club for years. It's something down the line but there's a lot of people before me and all I can say is you can see how much I love playing for the club. Always a nice comment to hear."
Despite the injury, Skipp admitted that he has been in all the meetings and watching training so has still been working with Conte, just not in the way he would have hoped.
"For the boss at the moment, the detail and tactical detail he goes into; the analysis on other teams that we do and just his philosophy and how much he demands from all the players is something we enjoy and need to perform at our best so it's amazing to think that I've had some top managers at Spurs," Skipp said.
"The boss has been amazing and really clear instructions on how he wants his teams to play and it gives players real clarity on what their job is within the team and also his record speaks for itself so you can only soak up all the tactical information he gives you and you'd be stupid not to listen to him, considering his record and the demands he puts on everyone."
The former Norwich loanee then went on to praise his ex-Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino, and explained the similarities and differences between his current and former boss. "Both are top coaches. Maybe slightly different in how they go about it," the midfielder explained.
"[Pochettino] was amazing, especially when I was first coming into the first team. He really made me feel part of the squad.
"Very similar to the current boss in terms of how he demands. It was a very intense style of play, very similar in terms of the hard work both demand on a regular basis.
"I think the running stats for both managers we would've been near the top. With him it was all about his principles. You had freedom within them but he was very detailed with things like foot patterns, how he wanted the team to play and the sessions were very intense in terms of small-sided games, a lot of 2v2's, a lot of pressing and I think for many years under him we were a real top team."
Coming through the academy at Tottenham, Skipp has seen players come and go but is lucky to be able to know what it feels like to start from the bottom and work his way up. His advice to young aspiring players is to play with freedom and a smile on their face, enjoying the time they have to play with their friends and gaining experience playing in different positions, whilst learning from their mistakes.
The 21-year-old admitted that he keeps an eye on the academy boys, as he knows what it is like to be in their position and he spoke on some of the potential stars. "You've mentioned Dane [Scarlett] who's training with the first team regularly.
"He's very talented and if he continues to progress in the way I think he will, I know what he's like as a player, very talented," Skipp explained. "Also people like Jamie Donnelly, I've seen bits of him.
"He's trained with us a few times. It's very hard at that age. There's a lot of progress they can make and people perhaps you don't think will make it are players that are late developers so everyone has got a chance when they are in the academy and it's just about working hard, trying to improve the things that are your weaknesses and even improve your strengths even more," the midfielder added, as he admits it gives him great satisfaction to see the academy starlets training with the first team.
football.london understands that the 21-year-old is still struggling to recover from his pelvic injury and is no closer to a return to action. If Skipp can't make it back before the end of the season, everyone will be hoping he can recover well during the summer and preseason, to come back even stronger for the 2022/23 campaign.
