Harry Winks

[dbtcity]

1 hour ago, Foxes96 said:

Would Adrian Bernabé still be seen as a suitable replacement/ alternative for Winks? Seemed an inevitable signing under Enzo but never materialised 

He’d be more of a Bilal replacement than Winks

[Flappit]

3 minutes ago, Spanner73 said:

I’d rather accept staying in the championship and playing the talented kid Page in midfield alongside Alves instead of Winks & Skipp

Monga on the wing 

Nelson & Okoli in defence v Vest & Faes 

 

Accept the idea that they’ll need time but at least they’re going to improve in value and low cost wages. 

Than these entitled tired has beens 

Just flog them for nothing and refresh a tired & stale squad 

 

 

And then two months from now you'll be part of the group complaining that we're losing too many games as the inexperienced youth are being dominated by journeymen experienced pros. This may also damage their own development. You can throw a load of kids into a team, but don't be surprised at the sheer number of mistakes that will happen because of it - and way more than calamity Faes is capable of. There's a romantic narrative that chucking in plucky talented kids will result in consistent results, or if it doesn't, it doesn't matter as "at least they want to play for the shirt". If we struggle and some kids do well, the mid table premiership clubs will just pinch them from us for peanuts anyway.

[dbtcity]

If we do let winks go and don’t replace him with a like for like we can’t be playing defenders like Okoli as there will be so much placed on our cbs dictating play from deep which Wout/Vestergaard/Nelson are all capable of

[Scotch]

8 minutes ago, dbtcity said:

If we do let winks go and don’t replace him with a like for like we can’t be playing defenders like Okoli as there will be so much placed on our cbs dictating play from deep which Wout/Vestergaard/Nelson are all capable of

He would obviously need replacing but not with a "like for like". Winks doesn't fit into the midfield Cifuentes wants to primarily play. He plays with 3 CM's. An 8/10 hybrid which is Bilal, an 8 and a 6. We don't really have anyone that fits those last two positions so if Winks went, I'd rather we signed an out and out 6 with an 8 coming in too, preferably with Soumare leaving. 

 

That's why we made tactical changes yesterday after bringing Winks on. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

His £10m transfer fee and wages make his outlay on the books this year well over £5-6m. 

 

He's a priority exit, along with about 8 others still.

 

Get them all gone, I am sick of the sight of them.

Absolutely nailed it, I have had a gutful of overpaid primadonnas draining our club and then once every so often have a decent performance and all is forgiven. Winks probably could coast through this season but in reality when the chips are down as we witnessed under Enzo, he is just a liable to go missing. He is on over £50k a week in the championship, I would rather sell and reinvest in a couple of young upcoming midfielders than watch him turn up if and when he feels like it whilst topping up his retirement fund. 

[dbtcity]

10 minutes ago, Scotch said:

He would obviously need replacing but not with a "like for like". Winks doesn't fit into the midfield Cifuentes wants to primarily play. He plays with 3 CM's. An 8/10 hybrid which is Bilal, an 8 and a 6. We don't really have anyone that fits those last two positions so if Winks went, I'd rather we signed an out and out 6 with an 8 coming in too, preferably with Soumare leaving. 

 

That's why we made tactical changes yesterday after bringing Winks on. 

I meant like for like in terms of being able to dictate play as we currently don’t have anyone even semi capable of doing so imo

[Flappit]

3 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

His £10m transfer fee and wages make his outlay on the books this year well over £5-6m. 

 

He's a priority exit, along with about 8 others still.

 

Get them all gone, I am sick of the sight of them.

Who's going to buy him?

 

[Bordersfox]

1 minute ago, Flappit said:

Who's going to buy him?

 

There is interest from several clubs, see earlier in the thread.  

[Les-TA-Jon]

The recruitment at the club has been largely poor for the last couple of seasons - I'd be wary of losing both Winks and potentially BEK this window. No real faith in the club replacing them with similar quality. Sure, we need to reduce the wage bill and rebalance things, but we can't keep getting rid of our better players and expect to compete. 

[Number 6]

2 hours ago, Devonfox1884 said:

Let’s not go overboard about one good half against a team in absolute turmoil.

So instead we stick with the 2 CMs who were crap against a team in absolute turmoil?

[fuzzymizzit]

.

Edited 11 August 2025 by fuzzymizzit
wrong thread

[Muzzy_no7]

55 minutes ago, dbtcity said:

He’d be more of a Bilal replacement than Winks

Not a cats chance in hell we get Bernabe

[LeePhilpottsBaldSpot]

Would be a shame to lose Winks - he showed yesterday how good he is.

 

Hopefully frees up a bit of cash for Cifuentes to mould the team as he wants it, but I can't see us getting a better CM than Winks.

[JimJams]

3 hours ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

If he goes we absolutely need to get someone else in and it would cost us more than we get for Harry.

It would in terms of a singular fee, it wouldn't in terms of cost per season.

If we get £10mill for him, that's 10 for effectively 1 season.  Double that up and get someone in on a 4-5 year contract and your cost per season for his replacement is 4-5mill per season.  And that's forgetting wages.

[fuzzymizzit]

1 hour ago, Flappit said:

And then two months from now you'll be part of the group complaining that we're losing too many games as the inexperienced youth are being dominated by journeymen experienced pros. This may also damage their own development. You can throw a load of kids into a team, but don't be surprised at the sheer number of mistakes that will happen because of it - and way more than calamity Faes is capable of. There's a romantic narrative that chucking in plucky talented kids will result in consistent results, or if it doesn't, it doesn't matter as "at least they want to play for the shirt". If we struggle and some kids do well, the mid table premiership clubs will just pinch them from us for peanuts anyway.

They'll also quickly not want to play for the shirt if all they experience is drubbings and crowds on their backs.

[izzymuzzet]

Would have been perfectly happy with Winks leaving a couple of months or even 2 or 3 weeks ago. As we have done business at our usual glacial pace I don't have any faith that we'd be able to bring in a viable replacement so would be left with Skipp and Soumare as the league's least mobile central midfield pairing. 

[Sankey93]

4 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I'd take the chance and take the money. Too many of these we're still wedded to convenience and a lot of us have had a gutful. I really don't care about promotion if this is what the end result is.

It’s ok taking a chance mate but he’s the best we’ve got and trusting our board to replace him scares me! We all want to be promoted and we all want fresh faces but I don’t think it’s going to happen. He single handily changed the game yesterday but I do think he goes unfortunately you can tell on his face yesterday he wasn’t happy. When you say if this is the end result what do you mean ? Would you rather not keep winks get promoted then get rid of him ? 

[lcfcdamo]

Winks is alot better than skipp and soumare its clear has day! In a team with most of the ball like we will all season we need him so much!!! Premier league no because we dont have the ball has much and him without the ball isn't that good!! 

[Ric Flair]

51 minutes ago, Sankey93 said:

It’s ok taking a chance mate but he’s the best we’ve got and trusting our board to replace him scares me! We all want to be promoted and we all want fresh faces but I don’t think it’s going to happen. He single handily changed the game yesterday but I do think he goes unfortunately you can tell on his face yesterday he wasn’t happy. When you say if this is the end result what do you mean ? Would you rather not keep winks get promoted then get rid of him ? 

I am not interested in the current mindset of promotion above everything else. I understand the importance of ambition and to succeed but we aren't robust enough to achieve that in the current approach or framework.

 

I'd rather see us rip it all up with the intention of doing it differently, even if it's a bigger risk we don't get promoted. 

 

The truth is I want change from top to bottom, including ownership and almost every single board member and senior director. 

 

I absolutely want almost every single first team player being gotten rid of. 

 

I don't support Leicester just to see them compete in the top division at all costs, genuinely doesn't bother me. If that's the end result, I don't want it.

 

So I repeat, get rid of him, get rid of them all.

[Devonfox1884]

6 hours ago, TheGoldenGod said:

There isn't. So short sighted from @Devonfox1884. We aren't going to have time to replace, we've signed no one and I imagine there's reason for that behind the scenes.

I get the point, I really do. But the issue is we have to be somewhat shortsighted at the moment.

 

We need to rebuild - we only do that by moving on high earners as quickly as possible so we can bring in new blood on lower wages to start over. I don’t think we shift Soumare or Skipp, so if there was the opportunity to move Winks on so Marti can bring in a player that he specifically wants in midfield, considering Winks is in his final year and on big wages, would I do it? Absolutely. Of course that’s contingent on being able to sign a replacement, otherwise it would be silly to let him go in our current state in midfield - I acknowledge that. 

 

Is there a like-for-like Winks replacement available within a small budget? Maybe, maybe not. If I’m honest I can’t think of someone off the top of my head but I’d hope (perhaps naively!) that we can find some value in the lower leagues or on the continent - we’ve shown we can do it amongst the dross we also sign. 
 

I just don’t think he’s that good or irreplaceable. Just my opinion, of course. 

 

 

[CrazyKopCorner]

8 hours ago, Spanner73 said:

I’d rather accept staying in the championship and playing the talented kid Page in midfield alongside Alves instead of Winks & Skipp

Monga on the wing 

Nelson & Okoli in defence v Vest & Faes 

 

Accept the idea that they’ll need time but at least they’re going to improve in value and low cost wages. 

Than these entitled tired has beens 

Just flog them for nothing and refresh a tired & stale squad 

 

 

I find that difficult to argue against and also I’d rather totally cut out the malingerers Faes, Vesty, James, Hamza, Winks, BDCFR, Ayew, Kristensen, Daka and Soumare. Also get shot of Mcateer - he never beats a player. 

[dylanlegend]

I reckon losing winks (considering we have also lost wilf) would be a bigger blow than bilal. Only way would be the replace him with someone like Brownhill who probs wants more money (100k) than winks is on.

 

Winks is easily one of the best CMs in this league 

[MaidstoneFox]

Let him be gone. He's already won promotion with us, was Enzo's player and his heart is not in doing it again.

 

We need someone else who is hungry for this challenge.

[MPH]

12 hours ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

The recruitment at the club has been largely poor for the last couple of seasons - I'd be wary of losing both Winks and potentially BEK this window. No real faith in the club replacing them with similar quality. Sure, we need to reduce the wage bill and rebalance things, but we can't keep getting rid of our better players and expect to compete. 

 I’m sorry to be a boblet, but haven’t we signed both those players  within the last couple of seasons?

[Jon the Hat]

9 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I am not interested in the current mindset of promotion above everything else. I understand the importance of ambition and to succeed but we aren't robust enough to achieve that in the current approach or framework.

 

I'd rather see us rip it all up with the intention of doing it differently, even if it's a bigger risk we don't get promoted. 

 

The truth is I want change from top to bottom, including ownership and almost every single board member and senior director. 

 

I absolutely want almost every single first team player being gotten rid of. 

 

I don't support Leicester just to see them compete in the top division at all costs, genuinely doesn't bother me. If that's the end result, I don't want it.

 

So I repeat, get rid of him, get rid of them all.

I certainly think anyone on a large salary should be for sale.  We simply cannot continue as we have done, and that means cutting our losses on decent players too.