Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks has claimed that manager Mauricio Pochettino has made him more thick-skinned as a footballer.

The 22-year-old broke into the first team in the 2016-17 season, making 21 Premier League appearances, three of which were starts.

This season, the midfielder has started nine and come off the bench in a further seven, but injury has curtailed his progress as he has not played since February 28.

When asked in an interview with FourFourTwo what advice Pochettino has given him, Winks said: "Probably just to stick with it mentally, which he's told me a few times when he could tell that I was getting frustrated.

"The first full season with the first team was tough. I was training regularly and travelling to matches every week, but not getting games.

"I needed to be resilient and work really hard in training to improve. He has toughened me up a bit and helped me to realise how difficult football can be."

Winks has scored just the one league goal for Spurs.