Southampton full-back Kyle Walker-Peters says his England call-up has “proved a few people wrong” at his former club Tottenham.
Walker-Peters was with Spurs from the age of 10 but joined Saints permanently in search of first-team football in summer 2020, effectively as a makeweight in Jose Mourinho’s deal to sign Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Two-and-a-half years on, it is a questionable piece of business from Spurs, who have since spent a combined £40million on Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty, and paid off the final year of Serge Aurier’s contract. Surely Antonio Conte would love to have Walker-Peters surging down either flank.
“I wanted to prove a point, I wanted to go to Southampton because I knew they believed in me, I wanted to play regular football and maybe I’ve proved a few people wrong, which is always nice,” said Walker-Peters, who was told he was a late call-up to Gareth Southgate’s squad on Saturday.
At Spurs, Walker-Peters faced stiff competition from Aurier and Kieran Trippier but his development under Mauricio Pochettino was curiously stop-start.
He impressed on his debut on the opening day of the 2017-18 season, a win over Newcastle, but did not start another League game until the final day, with a smattering of cup appearances in between. The following season, he recovered from a costly early mistake to put in a solid performance against Barcelona at the Nou Camp, as Spurs earned a late 1-1 draw to stay in the Champions League, but started just six more games that year.
“It was definitely something I’ve really learned from,” he said of his time at Spurs. “I had some really good performances but then didn’t play again. I didn’t let it dishearten me, I looked at it more as ‘the process’. I trusted in Pochettino and I’ve learned a lot from it, in that once you’re in a side and you’ve established yourself not to take it for granted. Rather than look at it negatively, I look at it positively.”
Walker-Peters has trained as a right-back at St. George’s Park this week, but he has just as much chance of making in the friendlies against Switzerland and the Ivory Coast on the left of defence, where he has played the majority of games for Saints this season.
He has also played left-back in England junior teams, notably for the U-20 World Cup winning side, and hopes his versatility could give him a shot of making the squad for Qatar.
“I feel just as comfortable in either position,” he said. “It’s something the manager at Southampton [Ralph Hasenhuttl] brought up. He said if you want to play for England, it’s important you show them you can play on the left as well. He said look at Trippier, at the Euros he played left-back. It’s definitely a quality Gareth appreciates.
“When [Hasenhuttl] asked me about playing left-back, I said definitely. I’ve done it since a kid, I enjoy it. So why not? And I know it’s going to give me more of an opportunity to get into the England squad.”
Hasenhuttl has been so impressed by Walker-Peters’ intelligence and versatility, he has ever compared him to Bayern Munich and Germany legend Philip Lahm. “I’ve played in midfield, played left-back and right-back, so hopefully I can be England’s Philip Lahm!” said Walker-Peters, laughing.
“But there’s a long way to go until then. I hope to do well this week and then we’ll see what happens.”
