Former Blade Walker on ‘whirlwind’ rise with England

Kyle Walker is hoping he and his fellow England Under-21 graduates have done enough to gatecrash next year’s European Championships after being named man of the match on his full senior debut against Sweden.

Having come off the bench to earn his first cap in England’s shock victory over Spain on Saturday, Tottenham right-back Walker, took full advantage of his first start in Tuesday night’s 1-0 win over Sweden at Wembley.

The 21-year-old former Sheffield United youngster was joined on the pitch by three of his team-mates from this summer’s Under-21 Championship in Denmark – Phil Jones, Jack Rodwell and Daniel Sturridge – while Danny Welbeck was only missing because of injury.

Walker said: “It’s an exciting squad now. It’s full of youngsters – me, Danny Welbeck, Phil Jones, Rodwell – the list goes on.

“We’re all in the manager’s thoughts and I hope we’re there in the summer.”

He added: “I just want to go out there and play football – what I enjoy doing.

“The rest can take care of itself. I need to keep playing club football and hopefully keep performing at club football and then we’ll look towards the summer.”

Walker, who was compared to Roberto Carlos while with the Under-21s in Denmark, admitted it had been “a massive step up” to senior international level.

“You have to always concentrate. There are more experienced players. There are more dangerous players,” he said.

“But the Under-21s is a fantastic level as well and you have to have that experience coming up through there to get into the seniors.

“Thankfully, the gaffer, Stuart Pearce, gave me the opportunity to play there in the summer and I think I learnt a lot from that as well.”

Walker was playing in the npower Championship and for England Under-19s this time two years ago, with the past few days capping a meteoric rise for the defender.

“It’s been a whirlwind of a two years for me,” he said. “I was in the Under-19 squad two years ago. I’m thankful for the opportunity I got (on Tuesday) and, hopefully, I can keep going.”

He added: “It’s an honour, really to get out on the pitch and finally show what I can do.

“I’m grateful and I owe a lot to my mum and dad for this.”

After helping England overcome Sweden at Wembley, it is back to club business for Manchester City’s James Milner and a meeting with Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium.

Yet the attraction of a clash between the top flight’s last unbeaten teams has been diluted somewhat by the continuing saga involving Carlos Tevez, who is still to indicate when he is likely to return to Manchester after heading back to Argentina without permission last week.

The whole issue is becoming tiresome for Milner, who just wants to concentrate on helping City consolidate their position at the Premier League summit.

“As a team, we just keep moving forward,” he said.

“There always seems to be things going on off the field at Manchester City and people wanting to knock you down with distractions. All we can do is concentrate on what we’re there to do and that’s play football and work hard in training.”

Former Leeds United winger Milner spent four seasons with the Tyneside outfit earlier in his career, although he was on loan at Aston Villa for one of them.

The 25-year-old understands acutely the passion Newcastle fans have for their club and how desperate they are for success.

“I had a great time up in Newcastle. It’s a great place to play football and their fans will come down and make a great atmosphere.”

Milner is aware Newcastle cannot be taken lightly, no matter what trials and tribulations are to come. “They have started the season very well,” he said. “I don’t think many people expected it because there have been a lot of changes up there.”