How Robert Huth really feels about Harry Winks situation at Leicester City | OneFootball

Former Premier League title winner Robert Huth has made his thoughts clear on Harry Winks' current Leicester City situation

Leicester City suffered its lowest ebb on Tuesday evening when the Foxes' 2-2 draw at home to Hull City officially sealed relegation to League One, just a decade on from the club's astonishing 5,000/1 Premier League triumph.

The Foxes were only relegated back to the Championship last season, having clinched the second-tier title under Enzo Maresca during the 2023/24 campaign.

That precisely summarises the rollercoaster recent history that has played out at the King Power Stadium. Leicester transformed from relegation escape artists to title winners in the blink of an eye and proceeded to compete in European football for seasons thereafter while also lifting the FA Cup in 2021, but are now staring towards a deeply bleak and uncertain future following years of mismanagement.

City's plight has accelerated into the season, as current boss Gary Rowett failed to inspire any turnaround after Marti Cifuentes' mixed spell in the East Midlands.

A six-point deduction from the EFL in February for breaching Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules did plunge Leicester further into relegation trouble, but with a seven-point margin separating Rowett's side from 21st-placed Blackburn Rovers with just two games to spare and thus confirming their fate, the Foxes can hardly place the blame at that door.

It's no surprise, then, that a series of issues have been raised with the playing squad, who, by and large, have failed to deliver in terms of quality and application despite the fact that Leicester, remarkably, have the Championship's highest wage bill this term.

Harry Winks is, of course, one player who has notably earned the ire of the Foxes faithful, and ex-City star Robert Huth has now weighed in with his own assessment of the midfielder's situation.

How Robert Huth really feels about Harry Winks' Leicester City situation

Winks has become increasingly unpopular with Leicester supporters in recent times, having endured a particularly difficult campaign just two years on from playing a starring role in Maresca's title-winning side.

The 30-year-old is among a number of players to have underperformed on all fronts while continuing to net a handsome pay-packet from the club, which supporters have taken issue with en-route to League One.

Winks made headlines following Saturday afternoon's tame 1-0 defeat at Portsmouth, a result that all but confirmed the Foxes' fate. He was seen reacting angrily to a supporter upon boarding the bus out of Fratton Park after the match, although teammate Hamza Choudhury did later suggest that the ex-Tottenham Hotspur man was in fact responding to a Pompey fan.

Whether that's how it really played out will, of course, only be known by those who were there at the time. But Leicester fans have not taken to Winks for some time now, and he was greeted with a serenade of jeers and X-rated chants when warming up and subsequently coming on as a substitute in the draw with the Tigers.

Either way, another former Leicester title winner in Huth has slammed Winks for his reaction. Huth remains revered in these parts for his role in the fabled 2015/16 title win, and believes that Winks shouldn't have reacted in such a manner while displaying an understanding of heightened frustrations among supporters.

Addressing the situation on talkSPORT following Leicester's relegation, the ex-defender explained: "That's the most aggression I've seen from the squad, to be fair, him getting on the bus, so it's just a bit late.

"Listen, I think when you're in that position and you're bottom of the league or second from bottom, you expect a bit of grief from the fans, it's never really changed, you're always going to get it.

"Of course, it's nicer when you get plaudits, but they've been getting it from the fans for a long, long time, and rightly so because they haven't been performing.

"It's not good to see, but I can see the frustration from the supporters and as a player you're just sometimes going to have to get your head down and take it, there's no point in you talking back because you've got no leg to stand on."

Harry Winks' impending Leicester City exit will be best for all parties

A monumental rebuilding process now awaits Leicester, who will need to unstrip just about everything and conduct significant shake-ups towards the structure of both the playing squad and the club's ever-precarious finances.

There's a huge wage bill that will require considerable trimming before the League One campaign begins, and Winks himself is widely-recognised as Leicester's highest earner.

According to Capology, a site which provides estimated information on player and club salaries, the 10-cap ex-England international is earning an eye-watering weekly wage of £90,000, dwarfing any other reported pay-packets at second-tier level.

That is, of course, merely an estimation, although there's little doubt that Winks is a top earner at the King Power despite doing precious little to justify that sort of status following his debut campaign.

Leicester may now find it difficult to shift high earners who aren't fit-for-purpose in League One next season but are on long-term contracts, although they won't encounter the same issue with Winks as he edges towards the end of the three-year deal he penned back in the summer of 2023.

A parting of ways sits firmly in the best interests of all parties, with both player and club needing to reset and rebuild. Winks will hardly be missed by Foxes fans and, judging from his own reactions, it's hard to see the midfielder missing Leicester when he departs either.