Mauricio Pochettino urges Harry Winks to prove he can become a Tottenham regular for the next decade

On the up: Harry Winks
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Sam Long24 November 2016

Mauricio Pochettino has urged Harry Winks to prove he has the consistency required to become a first-team regular at Tottenham for the next 10 years.

Winks has long been regarded as one of the most promising graduates of Tottenham's Academy and signed a new long-term contract as recently as September.

The 20-year-old has finally made the step up to the first-team of late and marked his first Premier League start with a crucial goal during last week's 3-2 victory over West Ham.

Winks did enough to retain his place in the side for the midweek trip to Monaco and impressed again - despite Spurs slipping to a 2-1 defeat.

The midfielder's rise has continued an encouraging trend of Pochettino giving opportunities to youngsters and the Argentine coach has challenged Winks to improve further.

"Harry Winks was involved with training from the day we arrived. After a few months he started to be involved with the first team.

"It's important to know when the players are ready to compete t avoid the percentage that fail.

"Now the most difficult thing is to keep the level and try to show that he can be consistent in the starting XI.

"He needs to show he can be a player for the next few years here or the next 10 years. The difficult thing is not to arrive and play one game it is after to show you are consistent."

Spurs travel to Premier League leaders Chelsea on Saturday and Winks is in line to be handed a third successive start, depending on the formation Pochettino opts for against Antonio Conte's 3-4-3.

However, Pochettino stayed coy on his team selection and chose to only confirm that Winks is in contention for the highly-anticipated clash at Stamford Bridge.

"We will see if we decide to put him in the starting XI.

"I'm very happy after two big games against West Ham and Monaco. In Monaco his performance was very good and I'm very happy wit him. But we will see," Pochettino added.

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