He came with high expectation, and a quite high price tag. He has not been the Bale replacement we hoped for, but if he is fit for a full season you get a good return from him in a Pochettino side. You only have to look at the season to date to see this.
I liked Mason, I always thought he was a handy player. Probably had less natural ability than Winks but his mentality and drive in games made him a much better player. He had a bit of everything, could pass, tackle, dribble, shoot etc... never excelled in any category but wasn’t weak in any category either. A good squad player and backup to Dembele I felt.
He's barely 18 and quite different to Winks, from what I've seen of him. More of a threat to Dier, Wanyama or Sissoko in the long run.
Amos plays a deeper, more defensive role, too. What's happened to him, anyway? Seems to have disappeared.
Yeah it's weird. Played in all pre-season games, comes on to make debut vs Newcastle on the first game and then seemed to do an Ozil and just vanish.
It's like some people still expect him to be the Bale replacement he was touted as when he arrived as part of The Baldini Seven, ignoring the fact that... a.) Lamela's clearly the Lennon upgrade that Townsend failed to come close to b.) Son and Lucas are (arguably) the Bale replacement
One late sub appearance against Newcastle, a couple of full games for the U23s and now he's disappeared. Injured, maybe?
He certainly traveled with the squad to Milan last week, as the following video evidence shows... ...but he's currently in this weird limbo where he's not playing making matchday squads for the first team nor is he playing for the U23s
There's no doubt that Winks has gone backwards since that injury at Burnley. I don't think that he's been properly fit since. He's missed both pre-seasons since then and had another operation in the summer. There have been a number of players that have looked poor in MP's teams when not properly fit - Sonny, Big Vic, DoF, both Mousa's. Players with no pre-season tend to look sluggish. A number of them have gone on to recapture their form and progress again. If MP thinks that he's done at Spurs, then fair enough. He had no problem in letting Townsend, Pritchard or Bentaleb leave. MP wanted to keep Ryan Mason but the player wanted more regular football. Players who don't offer something aren't tolerated for long. If Winks stays, it's because those who see him in training reckon he's worth persevering with, even though his current form is not great. If he doesn't improve, he'll join Llorente, GKN and Vinnie in watching a lot of football before he leaves.
