Harry Winks Reveals the Two Legendary European Playmakers He Models His Game on

Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks has admitted to modelling his career on Barcelona and Spain legends Xavi and Andres Iniesta, citing his preference for technique over power.

Winks, 22, has made 24 appearance for Spurs this season, primarily at the heart of their midfield despite his slight frame, with the England international revealing how the success of the  aforementioned Barca duo – and his rise through Tottenham's ranks – have helped make him the central midfielder he is currently. 

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Speaking to The Mirror, he said: "I’ve never been blessed with height, strength and power so I’ve had to learn how to play differently from a young age. My game was all based on technique and when I look at players like Xavi and Iniesta they were always players I modelled myself on.

"We’ve always had a philosophy at Spurs to play out from the back, to play with style, to play out from the back and that’s the way I’ve always been brought up and to come into the first team is no different.

"We’ve all come through the same way through the club, you get drilled and coached into the academy. You learn how to play for Tottenham, what it means to play for Spurs and you can bring those habits in to the first team."

Tottenham have made a good start to the season under Mauricio Pochettino, with the club just six points off the Premier League summit, as well as having the Carabao Cup semi finals and Champions League knockout stages to look forward to in 2019.

It's clear that Spurs have progressed under the Argentine, with Winks confident the club can cap their improvements with silverware.

He added: "The team is coming of age. There’s a lot of talk about us needing to win a trophy and, of course, no-one wants to win a trophy more than anyone in the team.

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"But our main priority is to just try and improve every season, which we are doing, and hopefully a trophy will come at the end of that as a reward for all the hard work. We work really hard, we are improving and hopefully we can come away with some silverware."