Former Tottenham star axed from Premier League squad after intense manager row

Former Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks has reportedly been dropped from Leicester City’s squad following a clash with manager Ruud van Nistelrooy over his travel routine.
Tottenham Hotspur and Ange Postecoglou aren’t the only ones in a spot of bother this season. The pressure’s mounting across the Premier League, and over at Leicester, things are looking just as bleak.
While Postecoglou is taking the heat from fans and the media alike with every passing defeat, Ruud van Nistelrooy is facing his own crisis at the King Power.
The former Manchester United striker, now managing Leicester, has found himself in the firing line after a dreadful run of form.
Fourteen defeats from his last fifteen league games. It doesn’t take a genius to work out why the heat’s rising. And it’s not just the results — dressing room issues are bubbling up as well.
Harry Winks dropped by Leicester City amid Ruud van Nistelrooy dispute
Harry Winks was nowhere to be seen in Leicester’s latest 2–0 defeat to Manchester City — a glaring omission, given he’s been one of their most-used players this season, playing in 22 of their 30 league matches.
Now, reports from The Telegraph reveal why. According to the publication, Winks has been axed from the squad after refusing to budge on his 100-mile daily commute.
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Apparently, things came to a head over the international break when Van Nistelrooy requested that Winks stay overnight once a week at the club’s Seagrave training complex — a request Winks declined.
The England international is reportedly one of three senior players making a long daily trip to north Leicestershire, and the manager’s effort to enforce tighter discipline didn’t go down well.
With tensions already high and results spiralling, Van Nistelrooy’s push for stricter standards has seen Winks pay the price for sticking to his guns.
Tottenham academy graduate has personal reasons behind his stance
According to the outlet, Winks is said to have personal reasons for his daily journey from Hertfordshire, and on Thursday evening, he announced the birth of his baby daughter.
It was also revealed that under Enzo Maresca, the former Leicester manager, this was never an issue, however, Van Nistelrooy clearly operates under a different code.
In fact, Van Nistelrooy himself has been vocal about setting new standards, saying: “One of the first things I looked at when I arrived was to see how things are done here, and then apply my standards in this environment.
“In general, I’ve tried to increase the standards over the past three months. You have to take full advantage of these facilities. That is where the standards come in.
“It’s a perfect place to increase the standards as high as I feel is possible to run a club that wants to be in the Premier League. People have to get used to it. In the short term, you won’t see the effects of it, but in the long term it will pay off.”
Time will tell if that long-term vision includes Winks — or whether this is the beginning of a split that leads elsewhere.