Walker set to fulfil England dream

06 February 2011 14:00

Surprise selection Kyle Walker cannot have imagined his England dream would be realised quite so quickly after his move to Aston Villa.

Last month, the 20-year-old joined Villa on loan from Tottenham for the remainder of the season. And with fitness doubts surrounding Phil Jagielka and Micah Richards, Fabio Capello plumped for Walker ahead of Liverpool's Martin Kelly in his 25-man squad to face Denmark on Wednesday.

"It is a dream to play for England," said Walker recently. "I've played for Under-19s, 20s, 21s so the next step is the full squad. Fabio Capello said I needed to improve defensively. But I am still learning the game and will do extra work at training to try and improve."

He added: "If that is what he feels I need to do, then I'm prepared to do that."

Walker has set himself a high standard, naming recently retired Gary Neville as his role model.

Neville won the first of his 85 caps as a 20-year-old, so Walker would be following a nice precedent if he was introduced into the action in Copenhagen.

It is not something that can be discounted after the strange season he has had so far.

In naming a 25-man squad, Capello tried to insulate himself against the possibility of losing players to the Barclays Premier League's two Sunday fixtures.

However, with the exception of Walker and Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale, all the names were familiar, even if some have not been around for a while.

Scott Parker and Leighton Baines were amongst the players axed from Capello's 30-man provisional World Cup squad.

Source: PA