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Oliver Skipp says £180k-a-week Tottenham player’s passing is ‘superb’

Milo Clay

Wed 9 August 2023 16:15, UK

Tottenham Hotspur youngster Oliver Skipp has praised Ivan Perisic after last night’s friendly against Barcelona.

Spurs fell to a 4-2 defeat against the La Liga champions after dominating for large periods of the game.

Ange Postecoglou handed his squad players a run out in Spurs’ final pre-season friendly before the new campaign gets underway, with the likes of Harry Kane and James Maddison missing out on the matchday squad.

Despite fielding a weakened side, Tottenham put in an encouraging performance and were unfortunate to be on the end of the wrong result. 

Barcelona took an early lead through Robert Lewandowski, but Oliver Skipp stole the show thereafter as he netted a first-half brace.

His second goal of the game came from an exceptional delivery into the box from Ivan Perisic, with Skipp heading past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

And speaking to after the game, Skipp praised the Croatian winger’s passing ability.

Skipp on Perisic

He said: “The manager has encouraged the number 8s to get into the box, so we’ve been training when the ball goes out to Ivan – and you know his delivery is going to be superb.

“It was nice for it to come off but you would rather it in a win.”

Perisic racked up a total of 12 assists for Spurs last season after joining on a free transfer from Inter Milan.

The 34-year-old put up decent numbers in his debut season in the Premier League but didn’t quite manage to make the impact expected of him under Antonio Conte. 

Indeed, the wing-back was expected to be one of the many Spurs players heading out the door this summer. But he’s impressed under Postecoglou during pre-season.

While it’s unlikely that Perisic will take Heung-Min Son’s place in Spurs’ side, he could be a good backup option for the South Korean star.