Harry Winks is the latest name to come out of the Tottenham academy, an academy highly renowned for his ability to nurture English talents. Since the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, the club from North London has flourished in producing a large number of home-grown talents such as Harry Kane, Tom Carroll, Ryan Mason amongst others.
While Harry Winks made his actual senior team debut last season, the 21-year-old has seen a meteoric rise in top-flight football. Largely aided by the injuries to first-choice midfielders in Moussa Dembele and Victor Wanyama, Winks is slowly starting to make a break into the starting eleven for the Lilywhites.
The midfielder joined Spurs at the age of 11 and made quite an impact in the youth leagues. Now he has taken that to a new level by performing in the Premier League. Winks has already featured in five of their seven games so far. The 21-year-old is already one of their leading accurate passers, with a pass completion rate of 87%.
For his impressive performances, Harry Winks was also rewarded with a place in the English squad in the recent International break, where he made his senior debut for his country against Lithuania. Winks looked quite comfortable as the Englishmen easily sealed a 1-0 victory over the minnows.
Naturally, Harry Winks is a typical central midfielder, who is fairly adaptive as well, depending on the situation. He can play in a deeper holding role and guard the defence while he can also play further forward as well if needed. But he’s stronger in acting as the hub of the midfield.
Since the departure of Luka Modric, Spurs have struggled to find a composed central midfielder, but in Winks, they can be fairly optimistic about their chances to replace the Croatian midfield maestro.
Harry Winks can be compared to another youngster in Julian Weigl of Borussia Dortmund. Like his German counterpart, Winks likes to drop deep and take part in the slow buildup play from the back and even act as an auxiliary centre-back at times. However, the Englishman is far more dynamic compared to Weigl, as he can also march forward whenever needed.
Winks is an excellent passer of the ball, something England desperately need at the moment. The 21-year-old can easily outperform Jake Livermore in the England national team and he might even be a better option compared to Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson, as he can hold the ball rather well.
Aside from his excellent passing range, Winks has a great positioning sense as well which will be ideal for Gareth Southgate. With the injury to Danny Drinkwater, England are currently lacking someone who can bond the midfield and attack together, and Harry Winks can be the perfect man to do so.
The Tottenham midfielder is undoubtedly talents, but it will all depend on how he fares throughout the rest of the season. If he can keep up his good form, he might as well be able to sneak himself a place in the 23-man shortlist for the upcoming FIFA World Cup!
