Kyle Walker says Nathaniel Clyne’s international breakthrough has been impressive – but the Tottenham Hotspur defender has vowed to win back the England right-back spot.
Walker won the most recent of his ten international caps in the defeat by Germany at Wembley nearly 15 months ago.
Back then the 24-year-old was close to making the right-back berth his own, but a pelvic injury forced him out of World Cup reckoning, and he did not return for Spurs until January 2015.
“The England medical staff have been in touch, checking how I am, so it is fantastic to know I am still in their thoughts,” Walker told the Evening Standard.
Kyle Walker during his last performance for England in November 2013
“Glen Johnson has not been in the squad recently but Clyne has come in and done fantastically well. So it’s another duel for me, and I have to maintain tunnel vision.”
Walker plays the biggest game since his comeback on Wednesday night, when he battles his boyhood club Sheffield United for a place at Wembley in the Capital One Cup semi-final, second-leg.
He said: “I have to do the things that got me into the England squad in the first place, and hopefully I can make that right-back spot my own.
“It will be hard, because Clyne is playing very well and coming up with goals, which is always a bonus.
“But I believe in myself and my own ability and, fingers crossed, I can go and win the spot back. I’d like to think my luck will change.”
