Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks paid a visit to Qatar’s world renowned orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital, Aspetar, last week to continue his rehabilitation as he recovers from an ankle injury. The England international has established himself as one of the top  young midfielders in the Premier League over the past 18 months and is seeking to return to action before the end of the season to help the North London club secure their place in the next year’s Champions League.
Tottenham Hotspur and Aspetar announced a medical partnership agreement in September 2016, which gives the Premier League side priority access to the FIFA-accredited Medical Centre of Excellence in Qatar.  
Speaking about his visit to Aspetar, Winks said: “I am here to ultimately try to get fit and recover from an injury that I had for quite a while now and make use of the excellent facilities and staff to try achieve full fitness again. I have been really impressed by the facilities here, they really are world class. To be totally honest I’ve been a bit surprised of just how good the facilities here are. Aspetar also has fantastic staff that have helped me try to get me back to full fitness. The combination of the facilities and staff makes it an ideal place for me right now.
He added: “Aspetar is a great destination to recover. First of all, you have nice weather for recovery, and also everything to hand here. The staff have a wealth of experience with footballers and elite athletes in general. For me it’s been brilliant and I have really enjoyed my time here and hope to be back to match fitness as soon as possible.” 
Tottenham Hotspur is currently fourth in the Premier League table, which would guarantee Champions League football next season when they move into their new £750mn state-of-the-art stadium and Winks is relishing the prospect of playing at the club’s new home, which will be the largest football club stadium in London, particularly as he feels it can accelerate the team’s recent excellent progress.
He said: “It’s exciting, a new stadium, it’s going to be big. It has been a great experience playing at Wembley this season and we had some fantastic results there. We are excited to move to our new stadium and new home though as we go after some silverware next season.” 
He added: “We have got all the facilities in place to achieve the goal of winning trophies. as well. We have a great set-up, a great team and great backroom staff. We have everything to be a successful club, so going to the new stadium is going to be an exciting new chapter in the club’s history and hopefully we can achieve some big things there for the fans.” 
The 22-year-old footballer, who made his senior international debut in the 1-0 win in Lithuania last October, and looked a strong possibility at that stage to be included in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad, is confident that the senior England team can impress at this summer’s World Cup.
He shared his thoughts saying, “We have got a fantastic squad and individual talent. We have a good manager in Gareth, good staff and there is a great set-up there to be able to go on and achieve big things with the national team. Everyone is positive about the chances we have at this summer’s World Cup. Everything is going well in terms of training and our qualification process went as well as it could have done. Why not think big? There is confidence and belief there, so who knows.”
Speaking about Qatar as a host nation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Harry Winks said: “It’s going to be a fantastic place to host the World Cup for sure. The infrastructure here, the facilities and the stadiums…. Everything is in place to make it a wonderful tournament in 2022. An amazing destination to come here and to have the World Cup. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s a spectacular place and I am looking forward to coming here either as a fan, or hopefully as a player with the England national team in a little over four years’ time.”
Aspetar boasts one of the most advanced medical departments in the region, which is integral to the hospital’s multidisciplinary approach to athlete management. Aspetar’s method focuses on assessment and treatment of injured athletes by implementing personalised injury treatment programmes.
Utilising an evidence-based model, Aspetar’s experienced practitioners aim to return patients to their pre-injury lifestyle as quickly and safely as possible and has a proven track record of treating regional and international athletes.

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