Mourinho gives a wink Harry won’t be joining Everton

One player Everton have been recently linked with is apparently not leaving his current club as Jose Mourinho says Harry Winks will be staying at Tottenham.

Everton have been rumoured to be interested in signing Winks. But according to an article in the Daily Mirror the England midfielder won’t be leaving north London next month for pastures new.

Spurs boss Mourinho is apparently adamant he still has a future at the Tottenham Stadium and doesn’t want him to leave for Goodison Park or anywhere else.

Winks like his fellow England international midfielder Dele Alli (also strongly linked with the Toffees) has fallen down the pecking order since Mourinho took over at Spurs.

This season after making a brief appearance against West Ham back in October he’s only played in the Europa League for his club although England boss Gareth Southgate is still picking him.

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The 24-year-old is a player who reminds me a little of other past English central midfielders like Jamie Redknapp and going back even further to the eighties, Ray Wilkins.

These were players who were neat and tidy in possession and rarely gave the ball away. But they were often criticized for being too cautious and ‘safety-first’ in their passing, playing too many square balls across midfield and weren’t felt to be as effective in supporting their team’s attacking play as they could or should have been.

A key reason why Winks has lost his place is the arrival of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the summer transfer window.

The Dane – who was of course a target of Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti before he joined Tottenham – started sluggishly but has since found his feet in north London and become a key reason for the team’s fine performances recently.

We’ve seen why Ancelotti wanted him. Hojbjerg offers not only very strong defensive attributes, but he is also a fine progressive passer and a driving, forceful player who has added considerably more dynamism to the Spurs midfield.

Interestingly the article in the Mirror mentions Alli has also been on the radar of other clubs. So does this offer a further clue that Alli might be leaving and maybe joining Everton especially as last summer’s suitors for the England man, PSG, appear to be looking elsewhere?

I’m not sure signing Alli makes a lot of sense either, again I’d rather have Isco. He is similar to another former international team-mate who has fallen out of favour at his club: Jesse Lingard.

Both attacking midfielders were the toast of the England team back in the 2018 World Cup and looked certain to be starting for club and country for many seasons to come.

Instead they’re careers have stalled and in fact both players seem to have gone backwards since that World Cup, just like the Toffees keeper Jordan Pickford another player who starred for the Three Lions at that tournament.

Whether Ancelotti is really looking at the two Tottenham players or not there are plenty of rumours flying around and so a busy January, at least for stories if not signings, looks likely.