Fit to wear the shirt

With the new England World Cup shirts launched last week - available here from JD Sports http://www.jdsports.co.uk/page/england-football/ - I was asked to consider who I would like to see pull on the three lions emblazoned shirts in Brazil. Here's who I am looking forward to seeing.......

Adam Lallana

Adam Lallana has really grabbed the attention of football fans across the country in the last 12 months. He is a great example of how a player with natural talent bides their time before the deserved recognition comes along. Having joined the Saints Academy as a 12-year old in 2000 and played a key role in Southampton's FA Youth Cup squads of 2004–05 and 2005–06, when they reached the final and semi-final respectively.

Lallana joined the first team squad in July 2006, but it was the beginning of the 2008–09 season before he became a regular. He played a key role in the Saint's march back up the leagues. For those of us following football outside the Premier League he was a noticeable prospect. To those who view through Premier League tinted spectacles his achievements were always going to be downgraded.

In 2009–10 he contributed 20 goals in all competitions, the first Southampton midfielder to score twenty goals in a season since Matthew Le Tissier's 30 in the 1994–95 season.

He was named in the League One Team of the Year for the 2010–11 season after scoring 11 goals that season. Along with Lambert and Kelvin Davis, he was one of three Southampton players named in the Championship Team of the Year for the 2011–12 season. He finished with 13 goals, 11 of which came in the league. Great returns from a midfielder who contributed much more in general play.

You would question whether his ambition and opportunities were being stunted by remaining at Southampton, but as the team progressed so did Lallana. If anything he was benefiting from being part of a non-fashionable team that were being relatively successful.

As the Saints established themselves as a top half Premier League team, Lallana's creative talents and significant contribution have been regularly highlighted to Premier League viewers. Whilst he isn't as high up the assists table as you might expect, it is his all round play that has contributed to Southampton's rise into the Top 10, where they look firmly established.

Timing is everything and Lallana's form led to him winning his first cap back in November. From a cold Wembley night and defeat to Chile, to a starting place in the Amazonian jungle. Not bad journey in just over six months. But it has taken a lot of hard work and a commitment to the Saints to get to the starting point.

Daniel Sturridge

For a player of such tender years, Sturridge has already picked up experience at a number of clubs. His youth career taking in Aston Villa and Coventry City before signing for Manchester City as a 13 year old. He continued his development at City and played in two FA Youth Cup finals. He made his first team debut in the 2007–08 season, becoming the only player ever to score in the FA Youth Cup, FA Cup and Premier League in the same season.

I remember him scoring his first goal for City in January 2008 in an FA Cup third round defeat at Bramall Lane, which he followed three days later with his first league goal on his full debut, against Derby County. Despite this immediate impact he found first team opportunities were sporadic, and he return to play for the youth team in the FA Youth Cup. City again reached the final, with Sturridge the leading scorer in the competition and scoring in the first leg.

With Sturridge's contract at Manchester City expired and lacking opportunities, he signed for Chelsea on a four-year contract on 3 July 2009. A tribunal decided an initial fee of £3.5 million, with additional payments based on appearances and international recognition and a sell-on clause. It seemed Chelsea had got a bargain, but yet again he was to be loaned out. This time Bolton the beneficiaries and 8 goals in 12 games quickly won over the Reebok Stadium fans, although not without quibbles.


Whenever you watched him, it was with a sense of joy and what he could do, but frustration at what he sometimes did. Capable of so much, but greed and over-confidence stopping him from achieving so much more.


Given Chelsea's lack of goal threat, his sale to Liverpool seemed an odd one. But no one could have envisaged the partnership with Luis Suarez would be so devastating. The understanding of movement and vision between the two has led to him being the leading English goalscorer in the Premier League and with an additional seven assists on top of his goal tally.


He may well frustrate this Summer, but he is one of the few England players who will do something unexpected and is guaranteed to excite.

The next three players all have links with my club - Sheffield United. One of the great things as a football fan is seeing a player with great promise at your club and knowing your team, sometimes your academy system has played a key role in their development and that you have seen a young player, grow and mature into an international class player.

Phil Jagielka

Jagielka made his way through the youth ranks at United before making his first team debut in the final League match of the 1999–2000 season versus Swindon Town whilst still a trainee. An athletic defender and midfielder, he showed a clear talent in all facets of his game. Equally comfortable taking the ball forward as well as strong in the tackle, his reading of the game was sharp for a player so young. He contributed spectacular and important goals as well.

If anything it was thought his versatility might count against him. With Neil Warnock keen to utilise him as cover, he looked equally comfortable in central midfield, central defence and right back. It took a while for him to find a settled position. He equally looked home in goal, taking the gloves for the final 34 minutes of a home match against Arsenal on 30 December 2006. With Paddy Kenny injured and with United 1–0 up, Jagielka kept the Gunners at bay pulling off a fabulous late save from Robin van Persie to secure victory. Such was the confidence Neil Warnock had in his defender-com-midfielder-cum keeper, he decided to go without a substitute goalkeeper on the bench in order to give himself more tactical options.

He was a key player and virtually ever present for the final three seasons of his time at Bramall Lane. I remember the excitement of watching a United player pull on an England Under 21 shirt at the KC Stadium, such international recognition for Blades players was all too rare. That "pride" continued as he developed his career at Everton and eventually to England recognition.

It was always going to be difficult to make that breakthrough with Ferdinand and Terry in situ and Jagielka had to be patient. That patience has now paid off with Jagielka holding off the clamour for young pretenders like Smalling and Jones. Moyes clearly recognised the importance of Jagielka naming him Everton captain, a role extolled by Roberto Martínez on taking over who stated that Jagielka would make a "phenomenal captain".

Now he needs to transfer that leadership and defensive strength to the pitch, in a white shirt in Brazil. Having missed the 2010 World Cup and remained on the bench throughout Euro 2012, this is Jagielka's moment.

Kyle Walker

Sometimes you see a player for the first time and you think "they will play for England". Kyle Walker was just that player. In a short spell in the United first team you could see that he would be wearing the three lions at a future date. As his namesake Kyle Naughton made an immediate and exciting impact, talk was of the England Youth international waiting for his chance behind him.


Coming from a Blades supporting family, Walker joined United aged seven after being recommended by the local Football Unites, Racism Divides project. He progressed through the ranks to become a regular fixture in the reserves by 2008.

After a loan spell at Northampton he made his full debut for Sheffield United on 13 January 2009, starting in a third round FA Cup tie against Leyton Orient. With injuries, Walker was included in the starting line-up for the crucial last two games of the season, making his full league debut for the club on 25 April 2009 against Swansea City. He was magnificent and retained his place for an ultimately unsuccessful play–off campaign. Yet after an all too brief spell in red and white he was gone.

That summer Walker left United to join Tottenham Hotspur along with the aforementioned Kyle Naughton, a right back who had established himself as an attacking overlapping defender in the United first team. Although Naughton was valued higher in the deal, Walker was seen as the one with most potential. He was loaned back to United for the duration of the 2009–10 season as part of the deal and was an accomplished Championship right back for the first half of the season but was unexpectedly recalled back to Spurs after 6 months.

A hugely successful loan spell at Villa followed, demonstrating he was clear Premier League class. Finally he got his chance at White Hart Lane and grabbed it with both hands. Soon he was challenging Glen Johnson for the England right back slot.

He has his detractors and a player with such attacking verve, will always find himself culpable defensively. But you don't win the PFA Young Player of the Year, beating the likes of Sergio Agüero, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gareth Bale without good reason.

Injury led him to miss Euro 2012 and I hope that the pain killing injections he is currently taking for his pelvic injury, stave off an operation and enable him to take the field in Manaus on 14th June.

Gary Cahill

Gary Cahill didn't come through the Bramall Lane ranks, he even supports the other team in Sheffield, but he made a hugely positive impact on United fans during a three month loan spell from Aston Villa. Accomplished and calm he was a strong presence in the heart of the Blades defence.

There were many similarities with what we saw with Jagielka. Athletic, great vision and the ability to provide a goal threat as well.

It was surprising that Villa were willing to sell him 12 months later, unfortunately he was always going to remain in the Premier League and that ruled out any interest from United. He moved to Bolton Wanderers and became a firm favourite with Wanderers fans. Being married to a Bolton fan I closely followed his progress and it seemed that as well as he was playing, he was never going to get the credit his performances deserved, unless he moved from the Reebok.

The move to Chelsea did just that and Champions League success followed. Firmly established in the Chelsea defence and starting outshine the fading John Terry, his star was rising. Unfortunately, a broken jaw in the final warm up game robbed him of his chance to play at Euro 2012 and so like Jagielka and Walker this should be Cahill's moment. To see Cahill and Jagielka paired in defence, with Walker at right back will delight Blades fans everywhere.

"He'll play for England I tell thee"

A familiar sight in a few years? Picture courtesy http://www.thefa.com/

Every so often, if you support a club outside the Premier League and if you are lucky, you see your club unearth a real talent. One that has fans turning to each other and saying, "he'll play for England one day". Unfortunately, they usually they have to leave you to achieve it.

Sometimes they do play for England - Phil Jagielka, now Everton and (probably should be first choice) England centre back.

Phil Jagielka - Completed transition to international football

And sometimes they don't - star left back Wayne Quinn left for Newcastle, played a further 62 professional games (including a return on loan), before playing for Hayle in Cornwall. Now aged 34 he is player/manager for Penzance AFC.

Wayne Quinn in action for Hayle c thisiscornwall.co.uk

And sometimes their career takes a completely different path - Curtis Woodhouse, professional boxer

Curtis Woodhouse - Light Welterweight

Two seasons ago, Sheffield United were lucky to see two such players breakthrough in the same season, both local lads and, amazingly, both played in the same position.

To those who didn't watch the reserves, little was known of 19 year old right back Kyle Naughton when he made his debut against Watford back in late September 2008. A spell in the Borders on loan at Gretna the previous season had seemingly made the Sheffield born boy into a man. Blades fans immediately took to him, with his whippet like pace and confidence to push forward - knowing his pace would allow him to recover if he lost the ball. Added to which his timing of a tackle bordered on the impeccable. You could watch him slide into a challenge inside the box with your head out of your hands, as there was little chance of a penalty being given away.

Kyle 1 - the boy Naughton after scoring his 1st goal for the Blades

He quickly formed a great partnership with Greg Halford which saw the constant interchange  and overlapping runs a joy to watch. Even being placed behind the defensively frail David Cotterill did little to curb his enthusiastic runs, whilst still posing little threat to the Blades conceding.

Around the time Naughton was breaking into the Blades first team, Kyle Walker was earning rave reviews on loan at Northampton. Walker was also a Blades fan and even lived in Sharrow, the area of Sheffield that is home to Bramall Lane. Viewed as potentially a better player by Academy watchers, the 18 year old was already gaining England U-19 caps. After returning to the Blades, his chance was to come in a re-arranged FA Cup game at Leyton Orient, playing at right back in a 4-1 victory.

A further appearance in the cup replay defeat at Hull followed, but it wasn't until April that Walker got his first league start, replacing Naughton at right back at home to Swansea, with the older Kyle moving over to left back to cover the injured Gary Naysmith. He looked instantly comfortable, more conservative in his play than Naughton, but generally stronger on the ball and in the tackle. Probably reflecting his stockier build and the fact that he played centre back for academy and reserves.

Kyle 2 - Back in a Blades shirt for a second spell

Naughton, playing "on the wrong side" hardly put a foot wrong. So many full backs switching to play on their "wrong" side get caught out, but in those 4 remaining games prior to the Play Off Final against Burnley Naughton was rarely troubled and neither was Walker.

Prior to the Play Off Final Naughton had picked up the Supporters' and Sponsors' Player of the Year Awards, the Powerade Player of the Month for April, an England U21 cap and had made the PFA Team of the Season. All on the back of 43 starts and 3 goals in his debut season. Fans feared that if the Blades failed to make the Premier League, a big club would come knocking for Naughton. The only compensating factor was the emergence of Walker, with just 5 appearances,prior to the final, to his name he wouldn't be going anywhere and was a ready-made replacement.

Seeing both Sheffield born lads laid out in despair on the Wembley pitch, following another big match failure, was gutting. As was the realisation that was probably the last time we would see them both together in the red and white stripes. We knew the Blades were bound to cash in over the Summer months. We didn't expect it to be on both of them.

Several clubs were linked with moves, predominantly Everton, Spurs and Villa. Naughton was strongly linked with Everton and a £5m deal was reportedly on, before Tottenham stepped in with a bid for both and Everton responded. It was never really clear what went on in the latter stages of the deal being agreed. With them both being local lads, the frenzy of stories from "In the Know" posters on the message boards increased. Eventually a deal worth a reported £10m for the pair was agreed with Tottenham.

The motives for the move were not clear, with Spurs already boasting 6 full backs and plenty of flexible defensive cover in their squad, the more sensible move and the one that might have accelerated their development was possibly Everton.

Despite making his debut against Barcelona in a pre-season tournament and an early season defensive crisis at White Hart Lane, Naughton struggled to break through. By the January 2010 transfer window he had made just one 94th minute substitute appearance during the season and it was decided a loan was needed to get some games.

Naughton was signed by Gordon Strachan for Middlesbrough and, although he filled a number of positions during his 15 game loan spell, he left a positive impression. Boro fan Mark Forster takes up the story;

"He looked like a good prospect when we got him on loan and had a few good games but seemed to drop out of Strachan's plans pretty quickly for some reason. He's a typical modern full back for me, good at supporting the midfield but a bit suspect at the defensive side of his game. Overall though, he is a good pacy player who will do well. It was just a shame we played him out of position a lot."

At the start of this season, back at Spurs, with seemingly no likelihood of first team action, Kyle moved out on loan again. Again it was to the Championship, but this time to Leicester City.  David Bevan of football league website theseventytwo.com is suitably enthused, even more so as Kyle's loan was set to be to Portsmouth, but fell through due to Pompey's financial uncertainty.

"When he instead pitched up at the Walkers Stadium. Leicester City fans were delighted. We desperately needed pace throughout the side and here, falling right into our lap, was the Championship's Daniel Alves... 

Well, perhaps not but two goals from open play in the space of three months or so - Naughton's tally in a Leicester shirt so far - is unheard of for most right-backs at this level. A superb counter-attacking goal at home to Doncaster has been his highlight to date, complete with somersault and air guitar celebration, while the slip that allowed Max Gradel to open the scoring in the recent 2-2 draw with Leeds was his worst moment." 

"It was a defensive aberration, the like of which we have seen on a few occasions from Naughton, but his attacking play, enthusiasm and all-round athleticism has been a joy to behold and I can only hope, along with most City fans, that we can keep him on a permanent basis when his season-long loan runs out."

With six first team appearances in the Championship, alongside a brief loan at Northampton, Walker was always going to be loaned out by Spurs to build up experience. Thankfully, as part of the deal that saw him leave, he was to return to Bramall Lane on a season long loan...or so we thought.

On his return Walker continued to impress in a red and white shirt, despite playing as part of an ever changing back four in an inconsistently performing team, that was propped up by a number of short term loans. Then, with fifty minutes of the January loan window remaining, with Harry Redknapp having let Naughton and Hutton leave on loan and with Walker travelling with the Blades squad for a match at Watford, Walker was recalled. Redknapp made play of a defensive crisis, although that was surely of his own making? The circumstances behind the recall have never been revealed, but it is clear from comments made since that it left a bitter taste in the mouth of management and directors at Bramall Lane.

Despite the urgency of the recall, it was the end of March before he made his Tottenham debut, one of three appearances in the remainder of the season. And again he started this season outside of the reckoning. A short term defensive crisis saw him join Championship leaders QPR, initially for a month in September, but this was extended to January a month later.

QPR fans were more than impressed with what they saw. Comments such as :

"Kyle was class, he oozed it. Pacy, skillful and clever, he will be in the full national side by the end of the year, a starlet he's exciting to watch and a genuine international star in the making."

"Kyle was almost too good for us, he needed to be in the Premier League. He was an amazing player though."

"Kyle was absolutely superb. So much pace and strength. Definitely a future England international."

"He was fab. Quick, smart and able to get back whilst not be scared to go forward. Gutted that he's gone."

And gone he was. The quality of his play for the R's was duly noted at White Hart Lane and a decision was made to find a temporary Premier League home for Kyle. A move to Villa materialised and within 24 hours he returned to Bramall Lane. Slotting in well alongside the experience of Dunne and Cuellar, Kyle reminded us of what we briefly saw in his time at Bramall Lane. Within 6 minutes he had gathered the ball on the halfway line, rounded Jamie Ward and driven at a back tracking defence, before confidently tucking the ball past Steve Simonsen. His lack of goal celebration was noted by Blades fans (and should be noted by a fat lad from Sheffield). His defensive play was near faultless throughout the match and another driving run in injury time was a key contribution to Petrov's goal, Villa's third.

The end of the match saw Walker take acclaim from all sides of the ground in a calm, respectful manner. The boy seems well grounded and  that will hold in in good stead until the end of the season.

Kyle Walker makes a successful return to Bramall Lane

So what might the future hold for the two Kyles? Naughton is now 22, but still has time on his side. If he continues to impress at Leicester, then a permanent move could be in the offing. Particularly if the Foxes achieve promotion. He could also tempt a lower half Premier League club, if the Foxes remain in the Championship. From their, with his skill, attitude and work ethic he can still progress. Unfortunately, I don't think he has a future at Spurs and I think the reason for that is his younger namesake.

If Walker, now 20, takes his chance at Villa, and nothing he has done to date suggests he will do otherwise, I can see him forcing his way into the reckoning at Spurs and from there....? There is a dearth of decent right backs in England. Glen Johnson divides opinion, Micah Richards has never really progressed and fulfilled promise, Jagielka could play there, but is much better in the middle. Who else stands out? As I said here the opportunities for good quality youngsters to progress are dependent upon getting experience at Premier League clubs and Walker is now achieving that.

I honestly believe that Walker will play for England in the next 3 years. There I have said it. In fact I think I sat on the Kop at Bramall Lane 2 years ago and said he would achieve it within 5 years. And if I am wrong and if this blog is still here in 3 years time, you can come and tell me. I might be accused of bias, but I honestly don't think I will be.

Thanks to David Bevan, Mark Forster, @TrickyTredder (Trevor Abbo) @lucyshambles (Lucy Amos) @JLQPR  (Jawad Laouira) @Jane010879 (Jane Simons) for their input into this article. It was much appreciated.