Southampton defender Kyle Walker-Peters believes he has ‘proved a few people wrong’ after receiving his first senior England call-up.
Walker-Peters left Spurs in the summer of 2020 to link up with the Saints on a permanent basis having found first-team opportunities in North London hard to come by.
But over two years since the move, the 24-year-old has kicked on and established himself as a key option under Ralph Hasenhuttl, while Spurs have struggled to extract convincing performances out of Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty.
And Walker-Peters, who was recently drafted into Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad for friendlies against Switzerland and Ivory Coast, believes his current strong spell of form could have proved a few people wrong.
He said (via Evening Standard): “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.”
Walker-Peters made his Spurs debut in an opening day fixture against Newcastle in 2017-18 and put in a Man of the Match display as his side secured a 2-0 victory at St James’ Park.
However, he received intermittent minutes for the rest of the campaign with Mauricio Pochettino often preferring Serge Aurier and Kieran Trippier instead.
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On the difficulties breaking into the fold at Spurs, he added: “It was definitely something I’ve really learned from.
“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.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Walker-Peters was somewhat mismanaged at Spurs and it is a shame because we are only now seeing his true potential come through.
He should have been sent on loan earlier in his career as he was in his 20s having played minimal minutes at a senior level and that came through on the pitch at times for Spurs.
But it is good to see him doing well with Southampton regardless, while Spurs should not let his exit cause them too much regret either way.
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