Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has now admitted that he wants to keep Spurs outcast over the summer.
Ange Postecoglou‘s first season in charge is almost completed and the Australian has had a good opportunity to see what his squad is capable of.
Spurs got themselves off to an unexpectedly impressive start which saw them punching well above their weight in the table.
Perhaps their stunning start set the expectations to high for the campaign, but it is apparent injuries have certainly hindered what Tottenham could have taken from this season.
But the injury issues have allowed Postecoglou to use some of the players he perhaps wouldn’t have had a good look at ahead of this summer’s transfer window.
Individuals like Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Giovani Lo Celso now look certainties to leave over the coming months.
However, it seems like another player who has been heavily snubbed by Postecoglou may still have a glimmer of hope at Hotspur Way ahead of the new campaign.
Ange Postecoglou outcast is now in his plans for next season
A summer of change could be heading the way of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a full season almost under the belt of the Australian.
After joining last summer, the 58-year-old has not shied away from making some big transfer decisions with long-serving defender Eric Dier very quickly shown the door.
Now Postecoglou has had the opportunity to analyse the players left that he has inherited, he will have a better idea of who he wants to keep around for next season.
And there have been a number of players who just do not look like they are in the plans at Spurs with the likes of Bryan Gil looking set to leave.
Another player who fits that bill is Oliver Skipp. The midfielder has barely been used by Postecoglou this season and has even found himself out of the squad recently.
But speaking in his pre-Burnley press conference, the Australian has admitted that he views Skipp as a player who will be around next season.
“Yeah, I don’t see any reason why not. He probably feels like he could have played more this year,” Postecoglou told the media on Friday.
“With the way the season has gone for us in terms of our games programme, he has probably been one of the ones who has suffered because we haven’t been able to get the game time rotations we need through the year. But yeah, I see Skippy as part of our future.”
A new role could lie ahead for Oliver Skipp at Tottenham
The 23-year-old midfielder has only made four starts for Tottenham in the Premier League all season.
Since January, he has only played just over 30 minutes worth of football and 29 of those came on Sunday against Liverpool.
Skipp was tasked with the job of filling in at left-back as Spurs suffered from the injuries to Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies.
And Postecoglou has admitted that is a role which Spurs are trying the midfielder out in during training.
“We have been working with Skippy the last few weeks. When we lost Destiny and Ben, left with Emerson who is not really a left-back, we were looking around at options and in training we have been using him in that space,” Postecoglou said.
“I thought he did well when he came on. The way we play with full-backs, certainly with some of the positioning, he wouldn’t be too unfamiliar with the positions he would need to take up.”