Harry Winks has revealed that he will return to pre-season training ahead of schedule in a bid to overcome his injury problem and force his way back into the Tottenham Hotspur ranks.
The 21-year-old featured 33 times for the Lilywhites last season before seeing his campaign cruelly ended by injury in April, when damaging his ankle ligaments in an awkward fall during the meeting with Burnley.
Winks was disappointed to miss Tottenham's run-in, which ultimately ended in disappointment as they fell short in the Premier League and FA Cup, but he is now hopeful of pushing on and proving himself at the club's temporary Wembley home in 2017-18.
"I'm obviously still rehabbing and I'll be in a good 10 days or so before everyone, just getting myself fit, testing my ankle and making sure it's okay to go back into full training," he told the club's official website.
"I've almost got a pre-season before a pre-season just to get myself fit so hopefully I can come back in the best shape I can possibly be in. As soon as I got the injury I knew it was quite serious. It was just my gut instinct and the pain I was in, it was something I'd never experienced before.
"I was in the hospital, it was tough but it's one of those things – I try not to think about that moment because it was a horrible day. Obviously the last few weeks of the season I had to miss and we had some big games as well – the FA Cup semi-final, the last game at the Lane, but when I look back on the season as a whole, I'm proud of myself, of what I achieved, in the sense that I played a lot of games and to achieve playing in the Champions League, FA Cup and to score in the Premier League, it was a great season for me.
"I'm really happy with that but most importantly, you can't rest on that and I know that – I know I've got to keep working hard, keep improving. What's happened has happened and the most important thing now is to kick on next season, forget about this season and look forward to improving and hopefully taking that step further."
Winks scored one goal and played a direct part in another across his 21 Premier League appearances last time out.
