Tottenham Should Have Loaned Harry Winks
Tottenham missed out on a chance to loan Harry Winks twice this season. During the summer and winter transfer windows.
Out of all the January moves that Tottenham completed from the recently closed winter transfer window. One move that should have happened, that didn’t, was loaning Harry Winks to give him playing time and not stay on the first-team bench or in the Barclays Under-21 Premier League.
If Mauricio Pochettino believes that the now-20-year-old has the most potential out of all Tottenham’s youth academy graduates since he’s been in charge, then a move away from Spurs needed to happen to unleash all of that potential via playing time. Or at least rotate with the rest of Tottenham’s players in cup competitions and Europe.
When Mark Warburton — formerly the manager of Brentford last season who now coaches Rangers this term — came calling in the summer to have Harry Winks on a 10-month season-long loan to join him up north in Scotland. This was the best opportunity for one of Tottenham’s best academy graduates to not only get regular playing time but come back as a better player.
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Everyone knew what Warburton did with Alex Pritchard by helping him immensely and getting a chance with Tottenham’s first-team, before suffering an injury and going out on loan to West Bromwich Albion.
So it quickly made sense to give Winks regular first-team opportunities with the Scottish Championship side, Rangers, to have him ready for next season and competing for a starting central midfield job.
Instead, Pochettino remained steadfast in the belief that Winks will learn more while training with the first team and observing from the bench during matchdays. Which, Harry Winks can attest to, so it had some benefits.
But so far, opportunities to play regularly has been hard to come by despite spending time with Tottenham’s first-team. And now that the knockout stages of both the FA Cup and Europa League are set to commence soon. The odds of Harry Winks getting a start, let alone a substitution appearance are severely reduced.
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Winks has the talent to start a game. He also has the talent to come off of the bench and help Tottenham secure a win.
But, when Pochettino made it clear that he will try to achieve a long cup run both domestically and in Europe. That meant he would strictly choose his best players that will give his team a chance to win and advance further in both competitions.
And Harry Winks isn’t one of his best 11 players. Sometimes Winks shows up on the bench — 10 times this season — but he’s an unused substitute. So that speaks volumes. Mauricio Pochettino feels that the time isn’t right just yet for Winks. If it was, one senior appearance is the end result and that’s not good enough.
Meaning Pochettino missed out on an opportunity to give Winks playing time via a loan. And if the FA Cup and Europa League aren’t viable options to play a 20-year-old central midfielder, then how about the Premier League? Well, that’s not an option either.
With the Premiership so wide open at the top half of the table, mistakes can’t be made which could derail Tottenham’s chances of claiming a Champions League qualification spot and a potential Premier League title.
In the end, Harry Winks will just have to do his best in training sessions and show Pochettino that he should get a fraction of playing time that both Josh Onomah and Tom Carroll have gotten this term. Which is make 13 and 21 appearances in all competitions this season, respectively.
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Therefore, come May, once the post-season and pre-season friendly tours begin, Harry Winks must be given a fair chance to show that he belongs with the current youth setup.
Because if not, and no one else will be sold, then Ryan Mason, Tom Carroll, Dele Alli (if he hasn’t secured the attacking midfield spot yet) and Mousa Dembélé are all blocking Winks’ path to getting playing time in central mid.
Which means a loan must actually happen this time around or the same mistake may be repeated for the second consecutive year.