Harry Winks flourishing under power of Mauricio Pochettino’s trust

'When I go out onto the pitch, I feel I have to repay the manager’s faith in me, as well as that of the players and staff'

Harry Winks enjoyed a memorable European night against Real Madrid on Tuesday (Getty)

What most stuck with Harry Winks from one of the greatest nights of his career so far was his pre-match message from his manager. In the dressing room at the Santiago Bernabeu, before going out to play in front of 76,589 people, Mauricio Pochettino pulled Winks to one side and delivered a simple message: “Play your natural game.”

Winks has only ever started five Premier League games and this was just his fourth in the Champions League. He made his England debut this month but he is still a stranger to the big-time. Which is why it was such an impressive show of trust from Pochettino to tell him to play how he felt comfortable at Real Madrid. Many 21-year-olds are still finding their voices as footballers and need plenty of careful instruction. But Winks is more mature than plenty of players older than him, and takes everything in his stride. Which is why Pochettino trusts him so much and why he will surely be part of the England squad at the World Cup in Russia next year too.

“When the manager tells me I’m playing, and to play my natural game, it obviously gives me massive confidence individually,” Winks said. “When I go out onto the pitch, I feel I have to repay the manager’s faith in me, as well as that of the players and staff.”

Winks’ rise at Tottenham into the first team – and into the England set-up – is the story of the power of Pochettino’s trust. Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier all had some first team experience, at Spurs or elsewhere, before Pochettino picked them. But Winks is younger than any of them and had no senior experience before Pochettino took over. His whole senior career has been with him.

“He instils confidence in all of us, especially at a young age,” Winks explained. “That it is important to play free, to enjoy yourself, which he always reiterates. Just to go out there and play and enjoy it. He has this natural demeanour about him, so you want to do well for him. He’s a fantastic manager and a great person. When you step on the field, you always want to do well for him as well.”

Pochettino will have been delighted with how his young team – just not Kane, Alli, Dier and Winks but Davinson Sanchez too – coped with the pressure of playing at the Bernabeu. They never looked overwhelmed and they could even have won the game at the end. It was a testament to years of development and progress at Spurs. It also pointed to the fact that this team may have taken the final mental step, the one Pochettino was demanding from them, without having to win a trophy first, as many observers said they had to.

“We go into every game thinking we can win it,” Winks said. “We had to maybe be a little bit more tactically resilient against these sort of teams, we know how good they are. But we went into the game with confidence, thinking we could get a result. That did not change when we got onto the pitch.”