“Winks can be future club captain” claims Spurs legend

Former Spurs centre back and club legend Gary Mabbutt has claimed Harry Winks has all the ingredients to one day go on and skipper the side himself.

Winks has divided opinions amongst the Tottenham fanbase with his performances this season, but he has impressed Mabbutt as the young midfielder has helped boost his side’s top four hopes with a superb 2-0 win over Manchester City.

It is a testament to how much Winks has improved that when the 24-year-old hobbled off during the 2-1 victory over Norwich last month, boss Jose Mourinho was too scared to ask how serious the injury was in fear of the answer meaning Winks being out for months.

The midfielder was on the top of his game defensively from the first whistle, and it was his interception that led to Zinchenko responding with a foul that saw the City full-back sent off via a second yellow card.

Mabbutt told the Martin Bell show on a Love Sport Radio that it was actually Winks’ actions off the pitch that showed captain tendencies.

“Last Thursday myself and Harry were visiting a care home for people with dementia, we went there with the Spurs football foundation with a company called Sporting Memories.”

“Harry was a superstar, amongst all the elderly people in bad conditions and Harry was fantastic. I’ve got the belief that if he continues to improve as he is, I think he could be a future captain of the club.”

It was Spurs debutant Steven Bergwijn that stole the show as he scored a delightful volley on his first appearance for his new club.

Mabbutt was full of praise for the Dutchman who has every Spurs fan salivating over what kind of player he could become.

“He came into this game knowing we’d be on the back foot, knowing he’d have to graft and work hard. There was no showboating, that’s not how we play.”

“He came in and saw exactly what it was like, saw how we want to play to get results. We can play some fantastic football at times but initially you have to go out there and win the right to play and yesterday we had to exactly that.”

Listen to the Martin Bell show every weekday from 12pm on Love Sport Radio.