Japhet Tanganga admits Oliver Skipp progress was big ‘motivational push’ for Tottenham first-team chances

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Tottenham Hotspur defender Japhet Tanganga has been explaining which current member of the Tottenham first-team helped inspire him upon his arrival into action. 

Jose Mourinho has proven to be a big fan of Tanganga, who is now a regular in the Tottenham starting XI after impressing at the back. 

Discussing his ascent on the official Tottenham Hotspur website, the 20-year-old discussed who had helped push him into cementing a place in the first-team. 

Whilst you might expect it to be one of the more senior figures at Spurs, perhaps Dele Alli, Eric Dier or Harry Kane, it is, in fact, Oliver Skipp, a long-term under-23 team-mate of the defender, who he namechecked. 

“As soon as I signed for Tottenham, my ambition was to break into the first team and play for them. To finally do that is just amazing, honestly.

“I was in the changing room with Oliver Skipp, who got into the first team last season. So it was a motivational push to know that, yeah, this is possible – it can be done.”

TBR’s View

It is understandable that seeing Skipp playing with the first-team regularly would help Tanganga believe in a pathway to the first-team himself. 

Whilst Jose Mourinho has been criticised in the past for not bringing through young talents, he has recently shown a lot of faith in Tanganga and Skipp. Hopefully, current under-23 players are looking at the progress both players have made and realise they can also follow in the footsteps.