Tottenham laughed loudest at Sheffield United transfer - £50m cash windfall was theirs | OneFootball

Kyle Walker was just 19-years-old when he made the move to North London alongside fellow Blades namesake and full-back Kyle Naughton.

Tottenham Hotspur laughed the loudest when they sold Kyle Walker to Manchester City for £50m in 2017, which surely left Sheffield United wondering ‘what if.’

Spurs brought him to North London from Bramall Lane alongside Kyle Naughton for a combined fee of £9m in 2009.

For Blades, it was probably the bittersweet reality of developing a talent through their youth system only to see him flourish elsewhere - whilst Spurs would cash in on a deal that netted them a staggering profit of over £41m on Walker alone.

But just how did Tottenham turn a player who had made just seven first-team appearances for Blades at the time into one of the most expensive English players ever?

How Spurs turned Sheffield United's Kyle Walker into a £50m star

When Tottenham completed their double signing of the two Kyles from Sheffield United, few would’ve anticipated the huge financial windfall that followed nearly a decade later.

As previously mentioned, then 19-year-old Walker had made just seven first-team appearances at Bramall Lane but had obviously already captured the imagination of top-flight scouts.

As part of the initial deal, Walker was loaned immediately back to Sheffield United for the entirety of the 09/10 season. However, the right-back impressed that much in 28 games that he was recalled just before the close of the winter transfer window, when Alan Hutton departed on loan to Sunderland.

Walker eventually made his Premier League debut for Tottenham in March that year, which was a 2-0 victory over Portsmouth - but his path to becoming a first-team regular would prove longer than anticipated.

Subsequent loan moves to Queens Park Rangers and Aston Villa provided crucial development opportunities, but it was from the 11/12 season onwards that Walker began to assert himself in Spurs' first-team squad.

By the time Manchester City came calling seven years after his arrival from Sheffield United, Walker had earned a place in the PFA Team of the Year in 16/17 - his second such honour by then. He had arrived under Pep Guardiola as the Spaniard's third signing that summer, after Ederson and Benardo Silva.

Kyle Walker just used to "knock it round people and run" at Sheffield United

During his breakthrough as a Blade, Walker featured in the 2009 Championship play-off final against Burnley, as did Naughton, just two months before their permanent departures.

Speaking about that 1-0 loss on the 'You'll Never Beat Kyle Walker Podcast', the ex-Man City captain said that "nerves" took the better of him before, and he didn't "prepare correctly."

When asked how he started the game, Walker claimed that although that exact match was a blur, he was "a full-back that just used to knock it round people and run." So you can imagine as a teenager Walker would've had so much raw talent and athleticism compared to others.

Also, all things considered, Blades did manage to negotiate a sell-on clause as part of the original deal with Tottenham, with Sky Sports suggesting they would receive approximately 10 per cent of any future sale.

That meant Sheffield United would eventually pocket around £5m from the City move - yet it was minimal compared to the amount that Tottenham enjoyed. Even though it was a little added bonus financially, the right-back is now one of the Premier League's most decorated defenders and has made 96 caps for England.

In 2024, Walker revealed to The Star that he wants to end his career in South Yorkshire, and although Walker is now at Burnley, Chris Wilder gave him the green light to return five years ago. So you can imagine there's still some hope for the move to happen, regardless of the fact that he's now 35-years-old.