Winks will be Spurs star for years to come, says Vertonghen

Jan Vertonghen made his first Tottenham appearance for over a month in Sunday’s 3-0 FA Cup win over Fulham, but the Belgian defender said youngster Harry Winks was the main attraction.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side fell to a disappointing 1-0 Europa League defeat against Ghent in mid-week but a Harry Kane hat-trick ensured that they bounced back in style against Fulham.

And 29-year-old Vertonghen said he felt Winks, 21, was continuing to impress and could go on to emulate the sustained success of Kane and Dele Alli.

“I thought Harry had a really good game against Gent as well, even though the result wasn’t as good. You can see how he’s improved over the last couple of years – it’s unbelievable,” he said.

“He’s a great player and for me, he can be the next Dele or Harry Kane. There is lots of competition in midfield but he’ll be a very good player for Spurs over the years.”

(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

Vertonghen was also delighted with his own shift, coming through 90 minutes to give Spurs a boost ahead of Thursday’s second leg with Ghent.

“It was a great game to come back for. At the end I was a bit tired but it’s good to be back and get 90 minutes straight away – I didn’t expect that but it felt good,” he said.

“We wanted to get back on track and we did well, we created plenty of chances and everyone was at the top of their game. Fulham had a couple of chances before half-time but other than that we had a very good game. The fans were great from the start until the end as well and now we’re in the quarter-finals.”