Oliver Skipp is rewarded with a new five-year Tottenham contract after becoming a key member of the first-team squad this season… four months after Antonio Conte tipped him to go on and become a ‘top midfielder’ in the future
- Oliver Skipp has signed a new contract with Tottenham which runs until 2027
- The 21-year-old midfielder has made 28 appearances for Spurs so far this season
- He emerged from their academy in 2018 and is now an important senior player
- Antonio Conte believes Skipp can eventually become a top player for the club
Oliver Skipp has put pen to paper on a new five-year contract with Tottenham, the club has confirmed.
Skipp, 21, has made 52 appearances for Spurs since emerging from their academy to make his senior debut in October 2018.
The midfielder, who is currently recovering from a pelvic injury, has also featured 28 times under Antonio Conte and predecessor Nuno Espirito Santo this season.
After signing his extension, Skipp said: ‘You can never have thought that young boy walking through at six/seven and signing at Under-9s would get to this stage, so I’m delighted to sign this new deal.
Oliver Skipp put pen to paper on a new five-year contract with Tottenham on Wednesday
‘It’s something that I’m grateful for. I think it means a lot when you’ve grown up at this club, my whole family support the club. It means a lot when you step out in front of the crowd.
‘I’ve missed that feeling obviously in the last few months! But it’s something that I’m pushing to feel again.’
Having played a bit-part role in his first two years with the senior side, Skipp headed out on loan to Norwich last term and impressed, appearing in 45 of their 46 league matches and being included in the PFA Championship Team of the Season.
He then returned to Spurs last summer and was brought into the starting XI by Espirito Santo, starting eight out of 10 Premier League games under the Portuguese before he was dismissed in October.
Skipp has become an important member of Spurs’ senior side in the 2021/22 campaign
Antonio Conte believes the 21-year-old is capable of going on to become a ‘top midfielder’
Conte has also taken a liking to Skipp, starting the youngster in six of his first 10 league outings and tipping him to go on and become a ‘top midfielder’ in the future.
The Italian said about him back in December: ‘This player, without the ball, he works very, very hard. To have him in the midfield together with Hobby [Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg] is very, very important.
‘For sure, the part that he has to improve is with the ball but in one month I have seen a lot of improvement about Skippy. He’s a player who wants to improve.
‘I think that the present and the future depends on him. If he wants to become a top midfielder. He could become a top midfielder, but he has to continue to work. He has this will, this desire to become an important player for Tottenham and for the present and for the future.’
Skipp first joined Spurs at the age of nine and has slowly worked his way up to the first team