Harry Winks has admitted to a degree of concern over his chances of making the England squad for next summer’s Euro 2020 tournament, given his recent lack of playing time at Tottenham.
The midfielder featured for England in Sunday’s Nations League defeat by Belgium, a fixture that saw the 24-year-old earn his ninth cap for the national team, but Winks said he is aware that fleeting opportunities at club level could see his presence in Gareth Southgate’s squad diminish.
“Definitely, my situation at Tottenham is difficult at the moment,” said Winks, who has spent just 17 minutes on the pitch for Spurs since the beginning of October.
“It’s important that I keep fighting and working as hard as I can to stay in the squad and to stay in the team. Every time I get the opportunity for England I love it. It’s a great place to play football here – it’s free and the lads get on really well.
“I want to be a part of that in the Euros and I want to be in the starting XI in the Euros as well. But yes, it’s important that back at Tottenham I get the opportunities there and I stay in the team there as well.”
Winks is not only keen to feature for England on account of his pride when involved with the Three Lions, but because he feels the squad have a genuine shot at winning a trophy next summer – something he doesn’t want to see unfold from afar.
“We are definitely up there in the sense of the players that we’ve got,” Winks said, despite England’s elimination from the Nations League following the loss to Belgium last week.
“The squad and the quality in depth as well is frightening, and the amount of players who can step in and who are constantly trying to give the manager difficult decisions to make.
“The good thing about England right now is we’ve got so many good, technical players. There are so many good players performing at such high levels in their clubs as well.
“Once we get that gel right and once we start to get a bit of consistency going into the Euros, we definitely believe that we are good enough to go all the way.”
England host Iceland in the Nations League on Wednesday evening. Iceland, who have failed to earn a single point in the competition so far this season, are guaranteed to finish bottom of Group A2 regardless of their result against Southgate’s men.
