Pass master: Leicester City fans are loving the rejuvenation of Harry Winks
Quietly bossing games from the base of Leicester City’s new-look midfield, a certain ex-Spurs man has been attracting admiring glances from Harry Gregory.
I swore to myself that I wouldn’t do it. I am 35. I am beyond the stage of putting footballers on a pedestal. Elevating them as superior beings. I was bitten badly last time. Never look back, they say. Well, the last time I did this idolisation of a Leicester City player; our relationship hit a rocky patch and in the final year the spark was gone. At first, I defended him, then I went quiet when the warranted criticism came and finally the deceit of his departure hurt me.
But now I have found a new love of my Leicester City life.
Bangers and lashes
When Youri Tielemans arrived, it was that range of passing which was so eye-catching. Left foot, right foot. Ping it out wide, run the ball into a channel. Then the goals. Long-range crackers. When he opened up to shoot at Wembley in May 2021, it was the perfect goalscorer. A memorable day would become memorable for neutrals too. An absolute banger for the history books.
Yeah, at times he looked like he was running through treacle. But when he was on it, he was on it. Classy. The main man as I called him. If he ticked, we ticked as a unit. So last year was tough on me and Your-eh. That wobbling run wasn’t quite so forgivable in the relegation zone. Those passes weren’t coming off. In fact, they were quite often putting us in danger.
I felt with ‘Youreh’, it was less of ‘downed tools’ and more simply he just didn’t play well. By the time Craven Cottage came around in May (which was where we were really relegated), we were ready for the break-up. He’d spent some time fluttering his eyelashes at other clubs. We were through.
To make it worse, he went off to Villa. If you’ve lived or worked in a city other than Leicester, you’ll have a local team which have an arrogance about them. Villa is that team for me. Villa are the Forest of the West Midlands.
The owl purrs
In the summer 2023 rebuild (for my support of LCFC as well as Enzo’s) a new central midfielder was signed. I was hesitant when Harry Winks joined Leicester City. He had also disappeared from Tottenham to a point where you never knew if he was injured or just out of favour. He was instead getting relegated from Serie A at Sampdoria; partly injured in the season.
A lot of money. A lot of wages. Ugh, it had some of the hallmarks of the type of poor signings we had made recently.
Move over ‘Your-eh’, in come ‘Winks-eh’.
The point of the pendulum in this new passing style. He controls the bottom half of our pitch. Passing pattern of centre-back to Winks. Full-back to Winks. Sometimes keeper to Winks. And back. When a Leicester player is in trouble on the ball, look up and find Winks. As recently correctly described, he has an owl-like, all-knowing presence on the ball. Pass, pass, pass. All done in a very tidy nature. He plays on carpet, not grass.
Purrs on along the turf and the ball never bobbles. Rather than box to box, he has a role you’d more commonly see in Europe. Just keep the ball moving. He can push the ball past defenders too. A conductor of sorts.
Freed to desire
However, it’s not just the playing ability that has made me fall in love with him. A key ingredient that was missed from recent signings was the players’ desire to succeed. Whether the individual needed to prove critics wrong or try to move themselves onto the next level of the football food chain. There was a host of players who were happy to cruise on a new well-paid contract.
Harry Winks feels like he was written off. He was forgotten about. We’ve given him the chance to revitalise a career. This is the re-construction and he’s fully invested. He’s laying the foundations.
I can say that with confidence because of his body language on the pitch. He celebrates every goal like it’s a late winner. His little skip towards goalscorers is joyful. When we win, he’s one of the first over to the supporters. Winks gets it. He just seems a bloody good bloke too.
You feel as though he’s on some vengeful mission to re-establish himself. After all he played in one of England’s greatest modern-day victories; a 3-2 win against Spain in Sevilla. Stopping a near 6,000-day home unbeaten run for the Spanish. He lined up alongside Eric Dier and Ross Barkley. He wants to avoid fading away like either of those.
Leicester City are also on a comeback. We fit perfectly. This is hopefully the beginning of the emergence. I have once again found another central midfielder that I am falling in love with.
