Aston Villa: McLeish backs Winks deal | OneFootball

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Football FanCast

·20 June 2021

Aston Villa: McLeish backs Winks deal

Article image:Aston Villa: McLeish backs Winks deal

Former Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has told the club what to do this summer, regarding a move for Tottenham’s Harry Winks.

What’s the talk?

Former Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has claimed that Tottenham’s Harry Winks could be a good addition to Dean Smith’s squad this summer. Football Insider have claimed that Winks is available and Spurs would be willing to sell him for £30m, with McLeish backing Newcastle and Villa to look at him.


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He said: “Newcastle United, would they not fancy him?

“Aston Villa too. I don’t know if Aston Villa have got enough midfielders. He’s certainly bright enough to play for some of these teams.”

Article image:Aston Villa: McLeish backs Winks deal

In 2019, former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino hailed the “amazing” midfielder for his improvement in front of goal in the first team. He told Tottenham’s official website:

“He deserves the praise because the whole action is amazing.

“He recovered the ball like a full-back, we started to build from the back and then he arrived for the cross from GK, which was fantastic – we have to praise him too.

“It’s amazing, amazing, because we were talking in the last few weeks that he had to score and to have more presence in the opposition’s box because he has the quality to do it. I’m so happy.”

Smith needs him

NSWE could strike gold for Aston Villa with a swoop for Winks this summer. Villa lack depth in the central midfield department and Dean Smith needs a player like Winks to come in and fill that hole in the squad.

John McGinn and Douglas Luiz were Smith’s preferred partnership in midfield, with the pair starting 37 and 32 Premier League games respectively. Marvelous Nakamba and Morgan Sanson were Smith’s only other options for those roles and neither of them started ten or more Premier League matches.

This suggests that Winks could come in and apply much-needed pressure on McGinn and Luiz. The Tottenham man could arrive and compete for a place in the starting XI instead of coming in to make up the numbers, as Nakamba and Sanson seemingly did in the 2020/21 campaign with their lack of involvement in the league.

Winks would then help McGinn and Luiz improve by pushing them to work harder to keep their place in the side, creating healthy competition in central midfield within Smith’s squad.

Article image:Aston Villa: McLeish backs Winks deal

The £30m midfielder is a proven player at Premier League level. He has played over 100 games for Tottenham in the league, with over 150 games in all competitions for the London-based club, and has been capped ten times by England at international level.

He is also at a great age to develop, at 25, and Smith could help coach him into becoming a key player for the club – utilising his experience and potential to turn him into Villa’s midfield metronome for years to come. This is why NSWE could strike gold for Villa with the Englishman this summer.

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