The Athletic’s Tim Spiers has recently discussed the impressive form of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ English defender Max Kilman.
So far this season, the London-born centre-back has made four Premier League appearances for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side (per Transfermarkt).
Over those outings, the £1.35m-rated defender has earned an impressive 7.01/10 average rating (per WhoScored).
The average rating has made the 23-year-old Englishman the eighth-best performer for Wolves in the top flight, leaving him in a better position than both Willy Boly and Conor Coady.
During the latest episode of The Atheltic’s The Molineux View podcast, Spiers discussed Kilman and aired that Gareth Southgate may be keeping an eye on him.
He said: “For me, he’s got the potential to be a better centre-half than [Romain] Saiss because of the attributes he’s got because of his height.
“There aren’t many – if any – tall, left-footed, technically very good centre-halves that are English, right?
“Gareth Southgate will already be sniffing around and kind of thinking, ‘maybe this guy’s one for the future.’
“If anyone didn’t hear that a couple of weeks ago, his parents are both half-Ukrainian [and] half-Russian, which is interesting. He speaks Russian, [I] don’t think anyone else in the squad speaks Russian.”
TIF Thoughts on what Tim Spiers said about Max Kilman…
As can be seen in what Spiers had to say, he believes that Southgate may be eyeing Kilman as a future England player, however, he could also represent Ukraine or Russia.
Do you think Max Kilman is good enough to play for England one day?
Yes, he has the potential
No, he's not good enough
If the young centre-back can continue his impressive performances in the top flight, then it is very possible that the journalist could be correct in his claim.
While Kilman has made fewer tackles (0.5) than Coady (1.3) per league match this season, he has made the same number of interceptions (1.0) and more clearances (3.5) than Coady has (2.3).
With Coady having made his debut for the Three Lions in recent months, perhaps the same could happen to Kilman should he continue bettering Wolves’ captain in key defensive statistics.