The Athletic journalist Charlie Eccleshare has revealed Tottenham are excited by the idea of a partnership between Oliver Skipp and Rodrigo Bentancur in midfield.
Antonio Conte has come close to finding his ideal set-up at Spurs, with the club now in a tense battle to qualify for the Champions League next season.
He has sided with fielding a pairing of Bentancur, who arrived at the club from Juventus in January, and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, with both tasked with keeping possession and breaking up the play.
While the Uruguayan has shown flashes of why he was brought to North London, he has not yet been able to partner Spurs starlet Skipp, who has been absent with a long-term pelvic problem.
There is hope that the England U21 international could feature again this term (Jonathan Veal), and Eccleshare has now revealed there is a long-term vision from the club for him to play next to Bentancur in the heart of the side.
He told The View from The Lane podcast: “There is a sentiment at the club, there is a lot of excitement about that Skipp and Bentancur partnership. We’ve never seen it so there is the element of the unknown about it.
“I’m told that the win-loss ratios were so different when Skipp is playing and when he isn’t, you often realise a player’s importance when he’s not there. With Skipp, we did get a sense of how important he was when he dropped out of the team.”
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Spurs Web Opinion
A partnership of Bentancur and Skipp does sound pretty nice on paper, as they both have similar but different qualities that can provide some balance.
It is a shame that we haven’t been able to see them out on the pitch together this season as it could be Spurs’ best midfield, but Bentancur and Hojbjerg have been a decent enough partnership in that time anyway.
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