Spurs struck gold selling special gem who Poch thought was a "top player"

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Tottenham Hotspur are a team who have generally had mixed luck when it comes to making signings.

It feels like for every Micky van de Ven and Dejan Kulusevski they've signed over the years, they've balanced it out with an Emerson Royal or Bryan Gil.

However, one thing the club have become experts at is selling players, be that the mega-money deals Daniel Levy has become known for, like Gareth Bale and Harry Kane, or the smaller-scale, but still impressive sales of players like Steven Bergwijn or Juan Foyth.

In fact, they did it again this summer when they sold a player former manager Mauricio Pochettino was a big fan of for a surprisingly hefty sum.

Spurs' summer sales

Before we get to the player in question, it's worth looking at a couple of Spurs' other sales this summer, starting with Royal.

Yes, the Brazilian full-back, who had become something of a scapegoat in North London, was finally sold this summer, and to the surprise of many, it was Italian giants AC Milan that came in for him, agreeing to pay around £13m for the 25-year-old's services.

Unfortunately, and perhaps unsurprisingly to many a Spurs fan, things have not worked out for the Brazilian at the San Siro, and as things stand, he's made 19 appearances, 15 of which have been starts, in which he's failed to score or provide an assist.

A player who's been more successful away from North London this season has been Welsh centre-back Joe Rodon, who joined Leeds United for around £10m, although his transfer was really a part of the deal that saw Archie Gray go the other way.

So far this season, the 27-year-old has made 22 appearances for the Peacocks, scoring one goal and undoubtedly being one of the team's most important players.

However, while both of these sales represent great business for Spurs, they made another, arguably even better sale over the summer.

The Spurs player Poch loved

So, to get straight to the point, the player we are talking about is none other than midfield gem Oliver Skipp.

At one point in time, the academy product looked set for a bright future at Spurs, with Pochettino describing him as "a top player and a top kid" following his first-team debut in 2018, while his next manager, José Mourinho, described him as "phenomenal."

"He’s a proper midfielder, a very talented midfielder and I’m sure he will have a very successful career"

However, as the years progressed, particularly under Ange Postecoglou, it was clear that the young Englishman no longer had a clear path to regular first-team football.

So, during the summer, the club made the somewhat unpopular decision to sell the academy graduate to newly promoted Leicester City for a fee in excess of £20m.

Now, there was an expectation among some fans that the promising midfielder would develop into such a player that the price paid by the Foxes would eventually look comically small, but as things stand, that seems fairly unlikely.

In all competitions, the Welwyn Garden City-born gem has made just 13 appearances, totalling 798 minutes, and has only been on the winning side in two league games and two League Cup games.

Ultimately, there is plenty of time for the former Spurs ace to find his feet in Leicester and show the rest of the country just how good he can be, but as things stand, Levy and Co appear to have struck gold selling him for the price they did.