Former Sheffield United and Hull City defender Harry Maguire living the dream with England

Gareth Southgate’s squad is littered with players that have made unorthodox journeys up the ranks, from former non-league players Jamie Vardy and Nick Pope to the many loan moves captain Harry Kane went on before making it big.

Maguire’s ascent has been striking in a different way.

The 25-year-old went to England’s Euro 2016 group match against Slovakia as a fan after helping Hull seal promotion through the Sky Bet Championship play-offs and is now bound for Russia to take part in the World Cup.

“It was a great occasion for myself to go over there and see them play live,” said former Sheffield United defender Maguire of the 0-0 draw in St Etienne.

“The fans out there – the incredible atmosphere, the passion that they show. It was a great to experience it.”

Among those with him in France for a trip he will “never forget” were brothers Laurence and Joe, who play for Chesterfield and Gainsborough Trinity respectively,

They are set to join him in Russia and Maguire joked that he has got to get his hands on lot of tickets after an ascent he could never have imagined two years ago.

“No, (I would) definitely not (have believed it),” he said.

“Obviously that season we got promoted through the play-offs with Hull.

“Maybe in and out of the team a lot, played a quite few games, I think I played 30-odd times that year, but quite a few off the bench. Then obviously I kicked on the year after, but, no, it has been a remarkable two years.

“It is something if you look back and you think you’d be there, you’d probably think you were dreaming. It’s a dream come true for me to represent England, and a really proud moment.”

Maguire hopes to put a smile on England fans’ faces this summer and believes the squad boasts youthful exuberance and talent.

He said: “We’ve got a lot of ability in the squad and we do have the confidence to go there and take the tournament on.”