Tottenham Fan View: Harry Winks deserves England chance

Winks Awakening

Before anyone questions whether young Harry Winks is a worthy of his England call-up, bear in mind that in March 2004, Anthony Gardner made his Three Lions debut against Sweden. The former Tottenham and Port Vale defender – a limited centre-back at best – came on as a second-half substitute for John Terry.

Presumably inspired by Sven-Göran Eriksson’s charitable donation to his homeland, a 23-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimović went on to score the winner in a 1-0 victory for the Swedes.

In the great pantheon of Spurs players undeserving of a cap, Winks is some way down the list.

No Mark Noble

You imagine much of the uproar over the Tottenham man’s inclusion comes from irate West Ham fans, still vexed that Mark Noble has never made the grade at international level.

‘Pathetic,’ Tweeted the WHUFCLive account upon hearing the news. ‘So basically if you’re English and you play for Spurs you automatically get into the England squad.’

In fairness, if the author of this Tweet is talking about previous inductees into the England fold – Ryan Mason, Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore – then maybe you can see his point. It wasn’t too long ago that this underwhelming triumvirate made up the hub of Hull City’s midfield. Which gives you some idea how far their stock has fallen. Not quite the saviours of English football they were made out to be.

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Spanish descent

With Harry Winks, however, things feel different. Perhaps owed to the Spanish blood that swims through his veins, thanks to his grandparents, and under the tutelage of Mauricio Pochettino, Winks has developed into a very modern midfielder. He possesses a technical quality alloyed with an aggressive, tenacious streak, no doubt encouraged by his Argentine mentor. It also helps that he’s a Spurs fan. This really matters to him. When he pulls on the shirt, he’s desperate to do well.

It would be easy to argue that Winks shouldn’t be in the squad for England’s decisive World Cup qualifiers against Slovakia and Lithuania. Using Gareth Southgate’s formula of only using players who’re performing well and regularly for their clubs, Winks is an outlier, having made just one Premier League start this season.

But, who, honestly, would you pick ahead of him?

Mark Noble?