Graeme Souness has urged Harry Winks to take the most from his loan spell to Sampdoria, as a Serie A term can make the ‘very gifted’ Tottenham Hotspur midfielder a better player.
Souness urges ‘very gifted’ Harry Winks to return to Tottenham a ‘better player’
Tottenham Hotspur have loaned Harry Winks to Sampdoria for the 2022/23 campaign with an option to make the move permanent. The Blucerchiati confirmed they had obtained the clause for the 10-cap England international after he fell out of favour under Antonio Conte.
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Winks played 24 games following the Italian’s arrival at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to replace Nuno Espirito Santo last November. But the 26-year-old only started eight Premier League, one Carabao Cup and three FA Cup fixtures, for a combined total of 1,276 minutes.
Conte additionally omitted Winks from each of Tottenham’s opening matchday squads for the 2022/23 Premier League season he could play in. He felt the Spurs product was surplus to requirements in north London after 203 senior outings with the club in all competitions.
Should the Hemel Hempstead native now impress in Genoa, he could secure a permanent move to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Fabrizio Romano notes Sampdoria’s option to buy Winks from Tottenham at the end his loan spell is a non-mandatory clause worth €25m (£21.5m).
Winks will hope his Sampdoria spell paves a path back to England set-up
Winks signing for Sampdoria on loan from Tottenham with a late-window transfer thrilled former Blucerchiati star Souness. The Liverpool legend believes a spell in Serie A will hand the midfielder lots of chances to return to north London in one year’s time a better player.
And Souness already believes Winks is a strong option in the engine room, despite his fall from favour under Conte. He had also fallen out of favour under Jose Mourinho, and was not a key part of Nuno’s tenure, leading to his last England cap coming in November 2020.
“I am pleased to see that Harry Winks, a very gifted midfielder, has headed on loan to my old team Sampdoria from Tottenham,” Souness noted in his column for the Daily Mail.
“In many ways, I would like to have spent more than the two years I did at that excellent club. Italy was a great place to be a midfielder in the 1980s because there wasn’t the same intense pressing as in England.
“It won’t be the same now for Winks because everyone presses these days. But he can go there both for the life experience and the football experience. He should soak it all up. He will come back a better human being and a better player.”
Even if Winks does not return to Tottenham and Sampdoria chose to sign him permanently at the end of his loan spell, the midfielder will hope his spell in Serie A paves a path back to the England set-up and tempts Gareth Southgate to consider him for the 2022 World Cup.
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