Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks has admitted that he has found it "tough" attempting to regain full fitness after missing five weeks of action.
The 22-year-old has suffered two separate ankle injuries over the past year, the latest of which kept him sidelined between Boxing Day and last week's FA Cup fourth-round replay against Newport County.
Winks came through that 2-0 win unscathed and got a full 90 minutes under his belt, and he is now in contention to start against Rochdale this weekend in the next round of the competition.
Speaking to the London Evening Standard, the England international confessed that it has been tough watching on from the stands for a large part of the last 10 months.
"It's tough. I had one ankle injury, then I came back, and I got another one," he said. "I was playing with it and I got to the point where I had to pull out. It wasn't easy.
"The most difficult thing has been watching the lads play and do really well while I wasn't involved, so the Newport game was a really good time for me to get back out there. My ankle felt good and everything felt fine so I am ready to push on now.
"I've still got a little bit of work to do to get back to the level of fitness and confidence I had when we played Real Madrid, but you have to start somewhere. Everyone has a clear mind about what we want to do this season - win a trophy.
"Manchester City will take a bit of catching in the Premier League but whether it is the Champions League or the FA Cup, we want to win it and we believe we can, because we know how good we are."
Despite his injury problems, Winks has still featured 23 times in all competitions this term.
Daniel Lewis
