ENGLAND’S ‘LITTLE INIESTA’
Rookie Harry Winks offers a glimmer of hope At her tea shop, mum Anita tells of her pride Spurs kept faith despite growing- pain injuries
Harry Winks has always been partial to an England top. as a boy, it was his favourite item of clothing — closely followed by his Tottenham shirt — and he played for his country at every youth level. in adulthood, it seems to suit him equally well and was by no means too ‘heavy’ as he sparkled on his debut in Lithuania.
For those concerned about the void in the centre of Gareth southgate’s team, Winks offered a sliver of hope, while his story defied the popular theory about modern footballers not caring for England.
‘He’s only ever had one dream,’ said his mother anita. ‘i’ve never known him as happy as he was when he found out he was playing on sunday. ‘He’s not normally like that — he gets on with things — but he said: “Mum, i feel so proud” and so he should. We’re all so very proud of him. He’s worked so hard.
‘When he was young, he was always wearing his England and Tottenham kits. He’d have both and he loved them. He was never out of them. it drove me mad. i’d try to dress him properly but he wanted his kit on.’
Winks now has the real thing and his progress comes as no surprise to those who know him well.
‘Harry was always a gifted player,’ said Chris ramsey, formerly head of player development at Tottenham and now technical director at QPr. ‘i’m so pleased to see him in the England squad.’
ramsey spent almost a decade coaching at spurs and, together with John McDermott, richard allen and Perry suckling, launched a new plan in 2005 which transformed the way they develop young players.
ramsey said: ‘When people ask about the Tottenham players who have come through there are very few where i think: “you know, at 10 years old he was unbelievable”.
‘ What helps is an academy philosophy which maximises the ability of every player and the ones you don’t expect to rise to the top, do. it’s down to level of care.
‘Harry Winks was small and frail and not particularly a good athlete at that time. you could have said the same about Harry kane. He wasn’t the best athlete, either. But both were technically very good and their attitude and willingness to listen and improve was outstanding.’
Winks was born and raised in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, where he played for boys’ team Echoes FC and attended Cavendish school.
scouts from Tottenham, arsenal and Watford spotted his potential and he spent time in the development ranks at all three clubs before the family made a decision when he was aged nine.
His father Gary, a semiprofessional footballer for Hemel and Berkhamsted, is a lifelong spurs supporter and was at White Hart Lane when they beat anderlecht on penalties to win the UEFa Cup in 1984.
Tottenham would prove the perfect choice and not only for emotional reasons.
as a teenager, Winks suffered from growing injuries and back trouble but academy chief McDermott had faith, as he did with late- developers, such as kane, ryan Mason and andros Townsend.
‘at a lot of clubs he would have been released,’ said ramsey. ‘There were part-time coaches at the spurs academy who thought he should be released but they waited for him and the kid is a fighter.’
Teddy sheringham took a close interest in young Winks and scott Parker emerged as a mentor.
as a senior pro taking his coaching badges, Parker took Winks under his wing and became an inspiration, phoning after training to discuss his progress and the importance of physical strength and courage. since retiring and leaving Fulham in the summer, Parker has returned to spurs, where he is coaching the Under 19s.
Former Tottenham defender Dean austin, assistant manager at northampton and a family friend, has been another source of advice.
‘Harry is a good listener,’ said ramsey. ‘He’ll learn from anyone. That’s his strength. He wasn’t in a good age group — they got murdered every week — but he’s intelligent and has always understood the game.
‘at the moment, we see him playing fairly sensible and safe because he will make good decisions and won’t give it away but he has a creative edge which people have yet to see. He gets people playing around him and he’ll make goals.’
Winks made his Premier League debut against Liverpool in august 2016 and the secret was out.
French club nice made an audacious bid to sign him on loan last season. There were many other enquiries but Mauricio Pochettino prefers to keep his most promising youngsters inside the club, to absorb his principles. ‘He’s a top
manager and a top man,’ said Winks — paying respect to the Spurs boss after his England debut in Vilnius. ‘He’s there to give you advice and gives everyone confidence to show what they’ve got. As a player, that’s the most important thing.
‘He’s given me my chance and I can’t thank him enough for that. English players struggle to get opportunities in the Premier League.
‘When you get that opportunity, we have to justify it. Not only has he helped physically and technically, he’s helped me mentally and that’s something I can’t thank him enough for.’
Pochettino texted a message to Winks, wishing him well and assuring him the England honour was ‘deserved’ but also warning him to stay ‘balanced’ and not get carried away.
As ever, the 21-year- old was appreciative of the advice, just as he was when the manager told him to focus on his upper-body strength when an ankle injury curtailed last season in April.
Winks returned with a sturdier frame from which to display his technical skills. Pochettino had already dubbed him ‘ Little Iniesta’ and sent him video clips of Andres Iniesta with instructions to study the way the Barcelona star accepts a pass on the half turn and protects the ball to go past an opponent.
Winks has become established as Tottenham’s first alternative to Mousa Dembele, deep in midfield with the vision and passing range to spring the team out of defence.
After only four Premier League starts, he was summoned from the Under 21s by Southgate when Fabian Delph and Phil Jones were injured. Winks watched from the bench against Slovenia at Wembley and started in Lithuania on Sunday.
Without the luxury of advanced warning, his family gathered in Hemel Hempstead to watch on television.
‘Never in a million years did we think he would get on the pitch and neither did he,’ said Anita, who runs the Tea Tree cafe in Hemel and was back at work yesterday still giddy with excitement.
‘It’s not every day your son plays for England.’