Karl Robinson claims his bid for Spurs ace Harry Winks was blocked; now one of England’s best

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Karl Robinson has shared how he was prevented from signing Harry Winks at MK Dons.

Charlton Athletic boss Karl Robinson has told Football.London that he wanted to sign Tottenham’s Harry Winks on loan for MK Dons – but was prevented from doing so.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has earned a reputation over the years for helping to develop young English players, with the likes of Nathaniel Clyne, Luke Shaw, Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Dele Alli and Harry Kane all thriving under him.

Another player can be added to that list of England internationals, as Pochettino has overseen the development of midfielder Harry Winks, who earned his first England cap last month.

The midfielder, 21, has not only thrived for Spurs in less than 30 Premier League appearances, and having featured and impressed twice against Real Madrid, Winks is now on course for a place at the World Cup.

Whilst Winks is experiencing a meteoric rise, Alli’s former MK Dons boss – Karl Robinson – has now revealed to Football.London that he actually wanted to sign Winks on loan from Spurs.

Robinson, now of Charlton, claims that MK Dons blocked him from signing Winks, on the grounds that he wasn’t good enough for the club, with Robinson hoping for a deal given that they share an agent.

Robinson added that he now thinks Winks is one of the best holding midfielders in England, and hailed Winks for being ‘unassuming’ and doing the simple things in midfield – factors that have seen him enjoy such a strong season.

“The interesting case I think in the country is Harry Winks,” said Robinson. “He’s unassuming, goes about his business in a very quiet way. We share an agent, and I was on holiday once and he came up and introduced himself. ‘Mr Robinson, I’m Harry Winks.’ My wife said ‘isn’t he lovely?'”

“I tried to get him on loan at MK Dons, but the head of recruitment at the time didn’t think he was good enough. He’s the perfect example of someone who could’ve been missed because he keeps it simple – the odd diagonal, forward passes, doesn’t score, not 6’2”, not massively aggressive. Now he’s one of the best holding midfielders in the country,” he added.