Kyle Walker Reflects on His Best Season with Tottenham

Kyle Walker, Tottenham Hotspur’s starting right-back, had a great 2015-16 season after dealing with nagging injuries for a couple of years now, to the point that his position isn’t in jeopardy like it had been prior to the start of this past term.

After suffering through some injuries the past couple of seasons, Kyle Walker remained healthy throughout the 2015-16 campaign and feels that he had his best year in a Tottenham shirt. Even going as far as to say that it was better than his award-winning season, which was his first full year with Spurs.

Walker’s “award-winning season” is none other than when he went on to win the PFA Young Player of the Year and PFA Team of Year awards during the 2011-12 Premier League season to become the second Tottenham player to win the prestigious Young Player of the Year honor.

And setting the tone for three other Spurs players to follow suit in a four-year span: Gareth Bale (2012-13), Harry Kane (2014-15) and most recently Dele Alli (2015-16).

During the 2011-12 campaign, Kyle Walker made 47 appearances (37 in the Premier League and five-apiece in the Europa League and FA Cup) while scoring two goals and registering two assists.

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – MARCH 13: Kyle Walker of Tottenham Hotspur in action during the Barclays Premier League match between Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park on March 13, 2016 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) /

The 47 appearances with Spurs surely must have come as a shock for Walker as first team opportunities were hard to come by after he was bought from Sheffield United in the summer of 2009 before returning to finish the season with his boyhood club. Wherein he made 30 appearances and recorded two assists in all competitions.

In the 2010-11 season, Walker would once again go on loan, this time to Queens Park Rangers initially and then to Aston Villa to finish the year off, while making 39 combined appearances with both QPR and Villa in all competitions, plus scoring two goals and having seven total assists.

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It got to a point that after Kyle Walker finished his loan spell with Aston Villa, he openly spoke about returning if he wasn’t given any playing time with Tottenham. Of course, then-manager Harry Redknapp assured the young right-back he’d get his chance and well, the rest is history as the saying goes.

Fast forward to now, at 26-years-old, and Kyle Walker believes his 2015-16 season — where he made 35 appearances, scored one goal and had three assists in all competitions — was a year to remember.

The England international didn’t play at all during the Europa League with Kieran Trippier earning all of the starts, but it did give Walker plenty of rest which has been valuable in keeping him from sustaining any injury.

As one of the senior players of the team and a long-serving member since he first joined seven years ago, Walker has expressed what it meant to play for this young and exciting squad with Mauricio Pochettino in charge and what he hopes will be just the beginning of more success in the future.

Next: Tottenham's Ben Davies Talks Pochettino, Spurs and Wales

“It’s been great to be a part of such a special team with youth, excitement, energy and just a willingness to work hard every game,” said Kyle Walker (via Tottenham’s official site).

“This last season has probably been one of those ones where I’ve topped when I got the Young Player of the Year award – obviously you’re not always going to be at the forefront of everyone’s minds with Harry Kane banging in all the goals and Dele Alli coming onto the scene and doing fantastically well, but personally I’ve been happy.”

“Obviously we did well as a team, too, but I still think there’s a lot more to come from me.”

“I’m 26 now so I’m not a young kid any more. Hopefully these are the prime years of my career and I can push forward and win some medals with Tottenham Hotspur.”

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