GHENT, Belgium -- Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks has said he will face an idol in ex-Spurs player Scott Parker in Sunday's FA Cup tie at Fulham.
Winks, 20, still talks to fellow midfielder Parker regularly, calling the 36-year-old for advice, and both players are expected to start the fifth-round tie at Craven Cottage.
He was a teenager when Parker was at Tottenham from 2011 to 2013 and is also a deep-lying midfielder who likes to break up play and dictate tempo.
"He was a top player and a top person as well," Winks said. "He was great with me, always giving me advice, and his career speaks for itself.
"He's a player I'd aspire to be like one day. As a young scholar, just looking up to someone like Scott and training with him, it was like I was in awe of him.
"Hopefully if I do get the chance to play against him there will be respect on both sides, but I will go out and try to win."
Parker is in his fourth year at Fulham and Winks revealed that the former Chelsea, West Ham and Charlton Athletic midfielder was already thinking about coaching during the end of his spell at White Hart Lane.
"He was coming to the end of his career at Spurs and he was looking more to the coaching side," he said.
"Obviously he has a lot of advice to pass on. He is an all-round midfielder. He has captained England. He's a top player.
"He always gives 100 percent and that is what I'd like to emulate as well.
But Winks, who made his ninth start of the season in Thursday's 1-0 Europa League defeat to KAA Gent, said Parker would be just another opponent.
"I probably won't speak to him before the weekend," he said. "I might shake hands with him after the game and have a five-minute chat with him.
"I am not going to get distracted by the fact he is someone I look up to. I will just go into the game as normal.
"Off the pitch I respect him, but on the pitch it is a fight and a game and I want to come out on top."