1. He comes from a footballing family
Born in Edmonton, north London, on 13 April 1997, Kyle Walker-Peters had inspiration for his future career close to home. His uncle, Phil Walker, was a professional footballer, who made close to 250 Football League appearances for Millwall, Charlton Athletic and Gillingham in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Phil’s career then took him to Hong Kong and a seven-year spell with Portuguese side Boavista before returning to London, where he set up a football coaching school. He sadly passed away, aged 67, three years ago.
2. Early success on the international stage
Walker-Peters’ career began within a stone’s throw of his birthplace, in the Tottenham Hotspur academy. As well as turning out for the Lilywhites’ first team on 24 occasions, he also found success early in his career on the international stage. In fact, he can call himself a World Cup winner, having been part of England’s U20 side which lifted the global title in South Korea in 2017. Alongside fellow future Three Lions full-internationals Dominic Solanke, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Dean Henderson, Ezri Konsa, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Fikayo Tomori and Lewis Cook, Walker-Peters was at left-back as the Young Lions lifted the trophy thanks to a 1-0 win over Venezuala in the final.
3. A hat-trick of Premier League assists
When Tottenham defeated AFC Bournemouth 5-0 on Boxing Day 2018, Walker-Peters contributed with a remarkable hat-trick of assists. In doing so, at 21 years and 257 days old, he became the youngest player to record three assists in a Premier League game since Jermaine Pennant (20 years, 227 days) achieved the feat for Leeds United against Middlesbrough 15 years previously.
4. Finding a home at Southampton
After making his breakthrough at Tottenham, Walker-Peters went in search of more regular football and found it, via a loan spell first, on the South Coast with Southampton. Including the first six months on loan, Walker-Peters spent the last five-and-a-half years with the Saints, and joins the Hammers having made 202 appearances in red and white. 136 of them came in the Premier League, while his debut top-flight goal came in a 1-1 draw with Manchester City on 22 January 2022.
5. Individual honours aplenty
Although Southampton suffered relegation in 2022/23, Walker-Peters played a central role in helping them bounce back immediately with a Wembley EFL Championship Play-Off final victory over Leeds United 12 months later. Along the road to promotion, Walker-Peters was a starring light and ended the 2023/24 campaign with 47 appearances, two goals and a hatful of individual awards too, being named in the PFA, EFL and The Athletic divisional teams of the season.
6. Familiar faces at Rush Green
Walker-Peters may now be returning to London after a half-decade away, but a familiar face from his time at Southampton awaits at Rush Green. James Ward-Prowse captained the full-back during his time at St Mary’s, and the 28-year-old has only played alongside four players on more occasions than Ward-Prowse. The pair have been teammates for 120 matches - 119 for the Saints and the other for England in a 3-0 friendly victory over Ivory Coast, for whom Maxwel Cornet was a starter, in March 2022. Walker-Peters also shared a pitch with Lucas Paquetá early in their careers, albeit as opponents, as Brazil U20s took on England U20s at Kidderminster Harriers’ Aggborough Stadium in September 2016. Paquetá opened the scoring that day as his side emerged 2-1 victors.
