Christian Eriksen has raved about Tottenham academy product Oliver Skipp and claimed he is destined for the top.
The Spurs superstar has watched Skipp at close quarters, first on the club’s pre-season tour and then again since he was promoted from the youth-team ranks to train with the senior side.
The 18-year-old midfielder has yet to play for the Tottenham first team but Eriksen is convinced the youngster has the character to become a big star as he explained what makes him special.
“First of all, his courage,” the Dane said, as quoted by the Sun. “He is not scared to get the ball, he is not scared to go forward and he is not scared to tackle.
“He’s an all-round midfielder. And I think with a lot of training, as he gets older, he will be there. He’s really taken the game in his hands and is trying to do his thing. He’s been very good.”
OPINION
Great Dane Eriksen knows quality when he sees it, and it is a measure of the precociousness of Skipp that the Tottenham creative talisman is convinced he can make it at the top level. The teenager has yet to make his senior bow but got a taste of it when he was named on the bench for the club’s fixtures against Barcelona and Cardiff before the international break. Eriksen did not play in either match due to injury, and Skipp has been the beneficiary of an injury crisis that has also robbed Spurs of Mousa Dembele, Dele Alli, Jan Vertonghen and Serge Aurier for the recent fixtures. Danny Rose has now joined the walking wounded. Clearly, the Londoners have a special talent on their hands, one who combines grit and guile in the middle of the pitch. As Eriksen points out, the rookie is not fazed on the pitch. He takes responsibility and makes things happen. He is at the right club, too. There is a genuine pathway from the youth team to the first team at Tottenham and Skipp should get his chance.