KYLE PROVES HE NEEDED EXIT TO EARN HIS SPURS
KYLE WALKER-PETERS believes his first senior international call-up is finally proof he made the right decision to leave Tottenham after 13 years.
The Southampton full-back was on the books at White Hart Lane from the age of 10 but sporadic breakthroughs to the first team were spread over many years of frustration out in the cold.
Despite signing a contract until 2023, Walker-Peters brought matters to a head when he left to head to the South Coast in a permanent £12million move in the summer of 2020, after five months at St Mary’s on loan.
But it is only now that he feels confident enough to say it was the right move.
Walker-Peters said: “I looked at it as an opportunity to play regular first-team football.
“I didn’t really think about, ‘Oh, I need to get back to a top-six club’ or anything like that.
“My first thoughts were to establish myself in the Southampton team, show everyone you can be a Premier League footballer and then whatever happens, happens. I’m really enjoying my football at Southampton and that’s shown in the last two seasons.
“Now I have done well enough to earn a call-up to the senior England team so again I think I made the right decision.
“I definitely didn’t doubt myself. I’m someone that’s quite confident. I have great belief in myself.
“At the time I looked at it as I needed to go somewhere else and establish myself, because the opportunities weren’t going to come as frequently as I felt I needed.
“Those are the risks you have to take in football if you believe in yourself.
“I’d been at Tottenham since I was 10, so it definitely wasn’t easy to leave something I was so used to.
“But it was something I wanted to do for my career.”
However, his England call-up has not come without a cost.
A spring break with his mates was already bought and paid for this week before he was drafted in as a replacement for Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
He said: “I was going to Milan with a few friends, but that one got cancelled quickly.”