Tottenham Hotspur player moves to Leicester - on the same day they play against each other
Tottenham Hotspur’s latest departure has moved to the same club his former side is playing against tonight.
Over the weekend, Leicester City agreed to purchase the English midfielder for a total of £20m, with a reported £5m in add-ons. Oliver Skipp, who has been at Tottenham Hotspur since the age of five, today confirmed a transfer the newly-promoted side - and he won’t have to wait long to link up with his new squad as Spurs travel to open their season in the Midlands tonight (August 19).
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur is the final game of the first round of Premier League fixtures, kicking off at 8pm at the King Power Stadium. Skipp, whose paperwork of course won’t be complete in time, will have to watch from the stands as his new and old clubs go head to head.
Skipp grew up as a Spurs player, but in recent years has not broken into the starting eleven and started only five of his 21 Premier League appearances last season. He joins former teammate Harry Winks at the King Power and will be hoping to carve out a starting spot in the Leicester team as they look to stay in the Premier League.
Skipp said: “I’m really excited to sign. I’ve got the feeling that it’s a good group of people and a good group of players. I’m sure that we’ve got a squad capable of challenging in every game. You look around the squad and there’s lots of exciting players who have played in the Premier League and I’m really excited to see what this group can achieve.”
The signing is a windfall for Spurs at a reported £25m - as Skipp came up through their academy, his sale will represent ‘pure profit’ on the books under the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules.
According to Football London, Spurs could get an additional sweetener on the deal, should Skipp one day decide to move on from Leicester. Alasdair Gold claims there is a sell-on clause in place - which means that if or when Leicester sell Skipp on, a percentage of their transfer profit will go back into Tottenham's profits.
The amount in the sell-on clause is unknown at this time, but it has become a growing trend among Premier League clubs in recent years. Most recently was Liverpool's sell-on clause with Fabio Carvalho, who moved to Brentford after a promising pre-season with the Reds.