Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks believes he has earned the trust of manager Mauricio Pochettino, but insists he is not taking his future for granted.
Winks, 20, raced to embrace Pochettino after scoring on his first Premier League start in the 3-2 win against West Ham on Nov. 19 and he kept his place for the 2-1 defeat to Monaco in the Champions League last Tuesday.
The Hamstead-born player is the latest academy graduate to break into Spurs' first team, but Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb and Andros Townsend have all been allowed to leave the club by Pochettino, so Winks knows what can happen if he does not continue to improve.
"The manager trusts in all the players, all the young players. He's good with that -- if he feels like he can trust us he'll put us out there," Winks told Ham & High after appearing as a substitute in Spurs' 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday.
"Fortunately, in my opinion, I've gone out there in training and in preseason and proved I can be trusted. But it's important for me to keep [repaying] that trust, to keep working hard and improving, because otherwise I've seen what football can be like, so it's important for me to keep going.
"It's still early doors for me but it gives hope to all young players that are coming through at Spurs that there are opportunities there once you're drafted in and proven yourself, so to speak."
Winks described his breakthrough week as "mixed" but insisted he has learned from it, and hoped the disappointments at Monaco and Stamford Bridge can make him stronger.
"I've learned a lot from all the games. Each game has an experience in it that I've never really come across in my career, so every game I play I learn from and every bit of experience I get I take on board," he added.
"Part of the game is you've got to learn to deal with defeat and unfortunately we've had two defeats in a week, and it hasn't been great in the dressing room -- it's been a little bit down and everyone's been upset, as you can imagine."