After a stunning season with Norwich in the Championship, Tottenham loanee Oliver Skipp knows that the Under-21 European Championships present another chance to establish himself.
The 20-year-old, who has become a vital cog for the runaway leaders in the second-tier, will play an equally big role in England’s progress in the tournament, which starts this week.
With the group stages and finals played separately, it is an unfamiliar tournament setup, but Skipp is aware of the chance it offers to players of his age.
“I think it’s more than youth football,” said Skipp. “You see the games are on Sky, the history of the tournament, and you look at the players that have played in the tournament. So, I think as a group we understand how, big of a tournament it is. For us as under-21s ones, it is the best platform for us to go and show what we can do.”
Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has already touted the midfielder and boyhood Spurs fan as a future captain in north London. With Mourinho chopping and changing his side on a regular basis, and with the England seniors always on the lookout for the midfielder who could take them to another level, Skipp will hope his performances for the Young Lions can only add to what has been a transformative season, though he will not be getting carried away.
“For me personally this season has been brilliant,” he said. “Playing regular football in the Championship, albeit it’s not the Premier League, but you can see how competitive the Championship is.
This season has been good just to get regular men’s football, to build up that strength to just play those games regularly.
“You’ve just got to look forward and keep pushing and then the rest will take care of itself, really. There’s no point in looking too far ahead. Just look towards these games and then finish off the rest of the season strongly and that’s what I’ll be looking to do. Then whatever happens from there happens.”
If Skipp is to move up and ahead, learning from those in the England ranks above will be key.
Skipp – an admirer of Fabinho, Fernandinho and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – has been watching videos of Jordan Henderson commanding the Liverpool midfield and is keen to pick the brains of West Ham’s Declan Rice, who has established himself in Gareth Southgate’s midfield at 22.
“I think that they [Henderson and Rice] would be more than willing [to help me],” said Skipp. “I mean, Declan Rice has played over 100 Premier League games and he’s not too much older than me, so he’d definitely the one I’d be looking to talk to and just to see how he’s going about it. Obviously, Henderson is a Champions League winner so they are definitely players that you can learn off, watch and see what they do.
“I think with Henderson and Rice, a big part of their game is their leadership qualities. You see, on the pitch, the vocal demanding, positive attitude. I was watching it, because sometimes Liverpool release a clip of where you can actually hear the players and you just listen to Henderson throughout the game driving that team on and I just found that fascinating, just watching him, and definitely something with the experience that you gain I can add to my game for sure.”
While Skipp currently looks up to the likes of Rice and Henderson, should his summer follow the same path as his season with Norwich he surely will not have a long wait to be competing with them for Southgate’s affection.
(London Evening Standard)
