Harry Winks has impressed Barcelona with his performances for Tottenham against their great rivals Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Winks was one of Spurs’s best players in both matches, a 1-1 draw in the Bernabeu last month and the 3-1 victory at Wembley on Wednesday.

Barcelona sporting director Robert Fernandez was at the game in Madrid and it is understood his original intention was to assess Christian Eriksen, who is considered a possible midfield option for Barca next summer.

Yet Winks is thought to have caught Fernandez’s eye in that game and also made a positive impact on Barcelona observers at Wembley.

All the indications are that Winks’s long-term future is at Tottenham but it is a sign of his rapid progress that he now has admirers at two of the world’s most successful clubs.

Before the matches against Madrid, Harry Kane and - when he returned from suspension - Dele Alli were the Spurs players discussed most often in Spain but Winks’s displays also made people sit up and take notice.

Winks played in a deep-lying midfield role at the Bernabeu, and for much of the Wembley game, when he started on the right of a midfield trio but switched to the deeper position when Toby Alderweireld’s injury forced Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino into a tactical rethink.

In Pictures | Tottenham vs Real Madrid | 01/11/2017 34 show all In Pictures | Tottenham vs Real Madrid | 01/11/2017 1/34 Getty Images 2/34 Getty Images 3/34 Getty Images 4/34 Getty Images 5/34 Getty Images 6/34 Getty Images 7/34 Getty Images 8/34 Getty Images 9/34 Getty Images 10/34 Getty Images 11/34 Getty Images 12/34 Getty Images 13/34 Getty Images 14/34 Getty Images 15/34 Getty Images 16/34 Getty Images 17/34 Getty Images 18/34 Getty Images 19/34 Getty Images 20/34 Getty Images 21/34 AFP/Getty Images 22/34 Getty Images 23/34 AFP/Getty Images 24/34 AFP/Getty Images 25/34 Getty Images 26/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 27/34 Getty Images 28/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 29/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 30/34 Getty Images 31/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 32/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 33/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 34/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 1/34 Getty Images 2/34 Getty Images 3/34 Getty Images 4/34 Getty Images 5/34 Getty Images 6/34 Getty Images 7/34 Getty Images 8/34 Getty Images 9/34 Getty Images 10/34 Getty Images 11/34 Getty Images 12/34 Getty Images 13/34 Getty Images 14/34 Getty Images 15/34 Getty Images 16/34 Getty Images 17/34 Getty Images 18/34 Getty Images 19/34 Getty Images 20/34 Getty Images 21/34 AFP/Getty Images 22/34 Getty Images 23/34 AFP/Getty Images 24/34 AFP/Getty Images 25/34 Getty Images 26/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 27/34 Getty Images 28/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 29/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 30/34 Getty Images 31/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 32/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 33/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 34/34 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images

Winks is still in the early stages of his career. This is the first season in which the 21-year-old has been a regular starter and his sole focus is Tottenham. A new contract - his third in a little more than a year — is anticipated before the end of 2017 and will earn him a significant pay rise. He is a lifelong Tottenham supporter and is fulfilling his dream of playing a prominent role for his boyhood club.

​Pochettino spotted Winks’s potential soon after taking charge at Spurs in May 2014, handing him a first-team debut in a Europa League game against Partizan Belgrade that November, when Winks was 18.

The manager also began referring to Winks as ‘Little Iniesta’, a comparison with the Barcelona and Spain midfielder who is one of the finest players of the modern era.

Winks has also broken into the senior England squad and has retained his place for the forthcoming friendly matches against Brazil and Germany, after performing well on his debut against Lithuania.

Should he maintain his recent form, Winks has an excellent chance of being included in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the World Cup.

Match prediction

Cast your vote in our poll