Harry Winks: Leicester City midfielder still harbours hopes of England recall after renaissance at Foxes

Harry Winks says he has never given up on an England recall as he enjoys a career renaissance in the Championship with leaders Leicester City.

He then moved permanently to Leicester in England's second tier and has been almost ever present for the leaders.

"I've never lost confidence in myself," Winks told BBC East Midlands Today.

Asked if he still feels like he can play for England again in the future, the defensive midfielder said: "I'd like to think so. But the most important thing is you have to show it. It's not about what I think, it's about showing it.

"This year has been a good platform for me to go out and show what my strengths are, what I can bring to the team and to try get a run of games where I can play regularly and show it.

"Right now the most important thing for me is Leicester and getting the club into the Premier League, winning as many games as possible and, personally, playing well.

"That is all I'll think about now and until the end of the season. Then next season we can readdress that with different goals and different objectives."

'Last years at Spurs were tough'

Winks, talking before Friday's top-of-the-table showdown with Leeds United, has started almost twice as many matches for Leicester this season than he managed in his previous two campaigns in England with Tottenham.

He started for Spurs in their Champions League final defeat by Liverpool in 2019, and while he maintained his place for much of the following campaign, he eventually fell out of favour at his boyhood club.

Winks admits he found his later years at Tottenham difficult and that it was not until moving to Leicester and playing under Italian boss Enzo Maresca that he rediscovered his affection for the game.

"Maybe the last two or three years of my time at Spurs was tough, but before that it was amazing and I loved every minute," Winks said.

"I learned a lot from that as well, it definitely develops your character when you don't play as regularly and you don't feel as important.

"But again I wouldn't want to change it for anything, I've learned so much along the way in my career and it makes you enjoy the highs more when you've been through that.

"I probably did lose a little bit of love for it in the last couple of years when I wasn't playing and left out of squads and things like that.

"It's difficult to find that love for it, but once you make the brave decision to leave and go to Italy and try to find it there, which I did, and to come here... now it is probably the most I've ever enjoyed football in my career."

Winks on learning from Maresca

It is at the King Power Stadium and under Maresca - a Treble-winning assistant coach at Manchester City last season - that Winks says he has been taught to thrive again.

His influence in a side that has been setting a relentless pace at the summit of the Championship was summed up recently when his Italian boss interrupted an interview that the midfielder was giving BBC Radio Leicester to say "without this player, it would be impossible this season".

"It's all I ever wanted, really, in my career to be honest," said Winks, about the appreciation and faith Maresca has shown him.

For a Foxes side that aims to dominate possession and places an emphasis on patiently shifting the ball around to break teams down, Winks' passing stats - making more than 2,600 in the league with 90% accuracy - have helped define Leicester.

"I'm 28 this year, but I feel like I've learned so much this year - more than I ever have in my career," he said.

"And I continue to learn every day - when you look at football in a different way, the way the gaffer teaches it, I really find it fascinating and enjoyable."

• Latest Leicester City news and analysis
• Get Foxes news notifications
• Listen to the latest When You're Smiling podcast