Harry Winks: ‘Xavi and Iniesta comparisons are nice – but I need to improve to get to their level’ Exclusive interview: Tottenham’s midfield metronome talks Dortmund, Barcelona icons, adding goals to his game and learning from Poch

Harry Winks is not a loud person. Standing at about 5’10, it is hard to imagine him winning a shouting match in the aftermath of a coming-together with a hulking opponent, or raising his voice in anger at all for that matter. If you were a newsagent and Winks walked in and tried to buy a couple of tinnies – all mousy freckles, hushed tones and nervous energy – you would definitely ask to see some ID.

Maybe his modest personality has led opponents to underestimate him. Hustling in the centre of Tottenham’s midfield, moving the ball with zip and precision, Winks has become one of the most reliable tempo setters in England. Not a playmaker in the traditional sense – he has not tallied a direct assist all season – he is the orchestrator, the rhythm section, the calming metronome in the middle of the park. He was rightly credited with a major role in Spurs’ 3-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League tie with Borussia Dortmund at Wembley last week, a game in which he helped to tilt possession in Spurs’ favour and gradually give them the upper hand against the Bundesliga frontrunners.

“It was the perfect first leg, as good as we could have hoped for really, we done really well,” Winks tells i when asked about the Dortmund game. “They are a top side, it was always going to be a toughie.” Who was his main adversary in the midfield battle? “[Axel] Witsel, he’s a top player, he’s played a lot of games and he was always going to be a difficult opponent to play against. But I enjoyed it. We obviously relish the chance to be playing in the knockout stages of the Champions League.”

As for the one to watch when Dortmund attempt their long-odds fightback in the second leg, Winks gives the answer most of those in attendance at Wembley will have been expecting. “[Jadon] Sancho, he’s a brilliant player, he’s shown with England when we’ve gone away for the last couple of camps how good he can be,” he says. “I think in the first half in particular he was a big threat for them, he was a danger man, so we have to watch him and be careful of him because he’s a real good talent.”

‘We’re a match for anybody’

Having visited the Westfalenstadion in the Champions League group stages last season there is little chance of Winks being overawed in the shadow of the Yellow Wall. He reserves a little extra praise for the Dortmund support, however. “The atmosphere is up there with some of the best I’ve ever played in,” he says of Dortmund’s famous 81,000-capacity home. “The fans don’t stop singing from the first minute to the end. They make it quite hostile, it’s a difficult place to go, but it’s an incredible atmosphere and we’re looking forward to it.”

Mauricio Pochettino raised a few eyebrows when he claimed that Tottenham could “win every single game” in the Champions League ahead of the victory over Dortmund. While what followed was certainly an impressive performance, Spurs received huge acclaim for their 2-2 draw with Juventus in Turin last season only to crash out in the second leg with a 2-1 defeat. With a relatively small squad and no new signings since the arrival of Lucas Moura in January 2018, there are inevitably many who doubt Spurs’ ability to go much further. Winks backs his manager, however, and reflects the self-confidence which – so often lacking in Spurs sides which have gone before – has become a defining characteristic of Pochettino’s team.

“We’ve played against some of the world’s best and we’ve won, so we know when we’re on top of our game like we were [against Dortmund] we’re a match for anybody,” Winks says. “Of course, it’s the Champions League, it’s tough, we’re playing against the best teams out there and it’s bound to be difficult. We can’t go into any game resting on our laurels.”

Iniesta comparisons

Pochettino has been a mentor to Winks, refusing to let him go out on loan when he was a youngster with limited first-team opportunities because he wanted to oversee his development personally. Back in September, Pochettino claimed that Winks had “the profile of the perfect midfield player” and compared him to Barcelona icons Xavi and Andres Iniesta. A considerable section of the Tottenham fanbase has taken to calling him ‘Winksiesta’ in response, a nickname which is only half tongue-in-cheek. So what does Winks make of being compared to two of the great midfielders of the modern era?

“It’s nice to be compared to players of that calibre, of course, but I don’t take too much of that on board,” he says. “I have to get to that level before I can be compared to them. It’s obviously lovely to hear that sort of comparison from the manager, but the most important thing is I need to improve as much as I can to get to that Xavi and Iniesta level. But to even be compared to them is a real honour.”

Winks has made 23 appearances in the Premier League this season, more than in any other campaign. Having damaged his ankle ligaments a couple of seasons ago – an injury which nagged at him until he had corrective surgery last May – he attributes his increase in game time first and foremost to maintaining full fitness. “The last couple of seasons I’ve obviously had injuries, so it’s been difficult to play the full season,” he says. “Staying on top of my fitness and making sure my ankle’s okay has been the key factor to playing so many games so far.

“I’m loving it, loving having as much game time as I’ve had. That was my goal at the beginning of the season: to play as much as I possibly could, to get as many games as I could, and so far things have gone great and fingers crossed it can stay that way.”

‘The manager is always there to support us’

When he speaks about stepping up to the level of Xavi and Iniesta, though, how does he think he might improve the fundamentals of his game? “There’s always parts of my game I want to add to: for example, goals and assists are something I need to work on and improve on. That said, I know that my role in the team is more than just goals and assists. I think the manager knows that and the players know that, so of course I always want to improve and get better but the most important thing is how I can help the team as well as improve myself.”

Does Pochettino set him specific targets, or is the process at Spurs more organic than that? “It’s a bit of both really,” Winks says. “The manager will sometimes say what he thinks I need to improve on and what I need to work on. He’ll show me clips or tell me where he thinks I need to improve, but I think naturally, over time, he expects us to learn it as well. As young professionals, we need to understand what we need to do to get better and what we need to do to improve, so I think it’s a little bit of both. But he’s always there to support us and give us the help we need.”

With Tottenham since the age of five, Winks has witnessed rapid changes in recent years. Not only are the club moving – albeit at a glacial pace – towards their new stadium via Wembley, they have been transformed under Pochettino’s management from top six also-rans to outsider title contenders. Spurs are arguably at their high water mark in the Premier League era and, as a fan of the club since childhood, Winks seems to value Pochettino personally, which is not always the way when it comes to managers and players. Sworn to the youth wing of the Pochettino revolution alongside Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Dele Alli, he feels he owes a lot to his manager’s methods.

“One of the best traits I think the gaffer has is that he brings the best out of a player,” Winks says earnestly as we come to the end of our conversation. “He wants us to get to the next level, he wants every player to be the best they can be. I suppose that’s the best quality you can have as a manager.”

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