Jamie O’Hara stated that Harry Winks would have done well under the leadership of Ange Postecoglou if he was still at Tottenham Hotspur [perhaps even more than Sarr and Bissouma].
Winks left Tottenham to join Leicester City early last summer and the centre-half decided not to stay at his boyhood club and try to impress Ange Postecoglou.
The 28-year-old cannot be blamed for his decision, as his career has regressed over the last few years, having been overlooked by successive managers in north London.
The England international’s decision to move to the Championship has been vindicated as he has had an outstanding campaign and is the heartbeat of a Leicester team that is currently top of League Two with a nine-point advantage.
Winks admitted in an interview with BBC Sport earlier this week that he had lost his love for the game at Spurs in recent years, but revealed that he has now rediscovered it at the King Power Stadium.
Harry Winks could start under the guidance of Ange Postecoglou:
O’Hara believes the Tottenham academy graduate could be very useful in Spurs’ current line-up if Antonio Conte doesn’t push him out the door.
The pundit told Grosvenor Sport: “Harry Winks is a top player for me, I’ve always liked him. He struggled at Tottenham and I feel Antonio Conte pushed him away because he wasn’t his type of player, but I’m telling you, if he was there now with Anzhet Postecoglou, he would be playing!
“He is the type of player Ange is – he holds the ball, he wants to pass it forward and he has energy in the middle of the pitch. I actually think he’s a better player than Oliver Skipp, which is why I would keep Winks at Tottenham.
“He’s a great signing for Leicester and has shown his quality. He probably came there and thought, ‘This is a Premier League club, I’ll probably have to suffer one season in the Championship, but this is my way to play regularly in the Premier League’.
“It’s fair play to him to get relegated to a league he’s probably too good for and show he’s still a League One player.”
Winks has a few qualities that Postecoglou likes, given the intensity and energy with which the centre-forward plays and his ability to play out of tight areas.
Under Mourinho and Conte, the centre-forward made conservative decisions in possession, but Ange may have liberated him and encouraged him to take more risks.