Oliver Skipp may seem like the kind of player who does everything by the book, but he once did the opposite of what Jose Mourinho wanted when the Portuguese manager was in charge of Tottenham Hotspur.
A product of the Tottenham academy, Oliver Skipp has now gone on to become a first-team regular for his boyhood club.
The young midfielder now has 82 appearances for the Lilywhites, and one, very special, goal to his name – a screamer against Chelsea last season (Transfermarkt).
Injury issues have prevented Skipp from featuring as much as he would have liked over the last two years, but the 22-year-old is certainly established in the Spurs set-up now and has always been a popular player with the various managers he has crossed paths with in North London.
Skipp once defied Jose Mourinho at Tottenham
Skipp is a fine example of a young footballer who works hard for his team and does what is expected of him.
However, in an interview with SPURSPLAY as part of the Off the Shelf podcast, Skipp explained how he once disagreed with Jose Mourinho about his decision to go on loan to Norwich City.
Skipp said: “I think it was crucial because I’d had two years in and around the first team getting odd starts here and there.
“But [the loan] was something that I felt I needed to do. It’s nice training with the first team but to get that pressure, the environment of trying to win games and play in the first team regularly.
“It’s interesting because before I went, Mourinho rang me just before and said ‘I don’t want you to go’. But I was like ‘Ah, I’d really like to go’ and we had a discussion about it.
“Thankfully, I was grateful he let me go. I felt like I needed to go and play regular games and I perhaps wouldn’t have got the opportunity at Spurs.
“It was amazing [at Norwich] and the fit was just perfect. They were a team that were bossing the Championship that year and the manager was really good.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Skipp made the right call in taking that loan move, as he performed brilliantly for Norwich, helping them win promotion and finding his way into the Championship team of the season too.
It’s a shame injuries have hampered his progress since returning to Spurs, but there’s no doubt Skipp has a big future ahead of him.
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