I turned up at Northampton with my mum and dad... it was just like the first day at school!

WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN

KYLE WALKER’S road to his first World Cup in Russia this summer began with a motorway drive from Sheffield to Northampton as a wide-eyed 17-year-old.

But that journey in November 2008 is still clearly etched in his mind as the moment his life changed.

For that was the day Walker started out on a senior career, which reached a pinnacle last month with a first Premier League winner’s medal at Manchester City – and the prospect of an even bigger prize now as part of Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

The former Tottenham defender said: “I’ve come a long way from the area where I grew up in Sheffield to that loan spell at Northampton (far right), which was my first taste of real professional football, to sitting here looking forward to the World Cup.

“It’s been a journey. But I’ve enjoyed it and just want it to continue.

“Going to Northampton back then was a massive opportunity for me. I’d been in the academy at Sheffield United, who were in the Championship, and Northampton were in League One when I went there.

“Stuart Gray was the United manager and he gave me the chance to go and show what I could do really. From then, it’s history. But I can still remember driving down with my mum and dad. They were in the front car and I had to follow them down because I’d never driven on a motorway! “They even came in and watched me train after we arrived. Adebayo Akinfenwa was there and Leon Constantine. “And I was worrying, ‘These guys are going to think I’m just a kid who’s turned up with his mum and dad!’ “It was like a first day at school – I think I only played 13 games there. But they were so valuable. Some of those players depended on winning games for their mortgage. So it was a massive learning curve to go down there and train with the senior players.”

Eight years at Tottenham, a recordbreaking £50million move to City and 34 England caps have followed for Walker.

And if there is just one thing he’s learned under Pep Guardiola to help the Three Lions this summer, it’s a positive mindset allied to increased game intelligence that can help England avoid another Iceland disaster.

Walker was in the Roy Hodgson side that