A debut under Mauricio Pochettino, touted for big things by Jose Mourinho and a breakthrough under Nuno Santo, it seems Tottenham Hotspur's young midfielder Oliver Skipp has another managerial admirer in Antonio Conte...

What's been said?

Indeed, according to football.london reporter Alasdair Gold, the recently-appointed Italian is a big fan of the 21-year-old already, having only been at the club for two weeks.

The ever-reliable journalist dropped the behind-the-scenes claim during a recent episode of the ' Gold & Guest talk Tottenham' podcast this week.

"He's a big Oliver Skipp fan already, Antonio Conte. This is what I'm told," Gold revealed.

"He's very much come in like, 'yeah, you'll do for me, I like you, I like you a lot'. That's what I get told from a few people behind the scenes as well."

Skipp success

Valued at £13.5m by Transfermarkt, the Hotspur Way academy graduate has started both of Conte's first two games in charge, though he will be suspended for one game after the international break, so that run will have to pause for now.

He has started nine of Spurs' 11 league games so far this campaign, taking his total appearances for the first team to 39 across all competitions since his debut in October 2018.

The England U21 mainstay had to go out on loan last season, where he clinched the Championship title with Norwich City and that was enough for Nuno to promote him into the senior set-up full-time.

"I see this kid being one day a future captain here by his character, by his personality. I feel really happy that he signed," claimed Mourinho, via the Evening Standard, in July 2020.

Now Conte joins the long list of Spurs admirers, so there can be no doubts that the 5 foot 9 dynamo will play a bit part in the 52-year-old's reign.

Perhaps that may come as a surprise because one of the main reasons talks between the club and Conte broke down during the summer was due to his unwillingness to develop the club's young stars, as per the Telegraph.

But on the above evidence, Skipp is likely to remain in and around the starting XI, so that should leave much of the Lilywhites faithful absolutely delighted, especially as he's a homegrown and local lad.

They will surely love this exciting claim from Gold.

AND in other news, Conte could solve biggest Spurs issue with "bright" U23 gem who's "scoring plenty"...