Harry Winks out to repay Conte after fearing Spurs career was ‘dead and buried’

Harry Winks says that he is determined to repay the faith of Antonio Conte after admitting he feared his Tottenham career was “dead and buried”.

The midfielder was marginalised under the previous manager, Nuno Espírito Santo, who started him only once in the Premier League this season before being replaced by Conte in early November.

Winks had also fallen from favour under Nuno’s predecessor José Mourinho and was expected to seek a transfer during the January window. But Conte was impressed with Winks’s performances in the league games against Liverpool and Southampton in December, after starting him, and he said at the end of the month that the player would stay after proving “reliable”.

Winks, who won the last of his 10 England caps against Iceland in November 2020, drove the team in the 3-1 FA Cup win over Morecambe on 9 January, showing a good attitude on a day when Conte substituted Tanguy Ndombele, Bryan Gil and Dele Alli as Spurs trailed 1-0. All three would be moved on in January – together with a fourth player, Giovani Lo Celso. Winks has started in all five of Spurs’s games since, most recently the 3-2 home loss to Southampton on Wednesday night, when they threw away a 2-1 lead late on.

“The manager’s come in and given me a chance, given me confidence again,” Winks said. “Every game I play and every training session, I have that hunger to impress him and do everything I can to improve.

“My career at Tottenham was probably dead and buried but he’s come in and given me an opportunity to prove myself. And for that, every time I get an opportunity, I really want to impress the manager and repay that faith he’s shown in me.”

Winks rowed back slightly on his “dead and buried” comment but the sense did not change. “I