Meet Max Kilman: The Wolves reserve with 25 England caps in futsal

It has been quite the whirlwind journey for England international Max Kilman in recent times.

Kilman has an impressive 25 England caps to his name at just the age of 21 and recently played twice in two enthralling clashes with rivals Germany but still no ordinary person would recognise him on the streets.

The young Englishman has just made a deadline day move to newly-promoted Premier League outfit Wolves, which could bring an abrupt end to his thriving international career.

While reading this, you may think this sounds like a huge missed opportunity to excel himself further but in fact for Kilman, it's quite the opposite.

Kilman's international honours are indeed all from futsal and his move to the holy grail of the Premier League brings a hugely exciting opportunity to put him firmly onto the path to stardom.

And speaking after his inter-sport move - signing for the Molineux outfit's academy on a two-year contract - Kilman has admitted he may have to call time on his futsal career to achieve his lofty ambitions.

'In all honesty, I don't think I'll have any time to do futsal now because I'll be training with Wolves every day,' Kilman told The Set Pieces.

'I want to try to organise something so I can still play for England, but it's difficult and I'm not sure it'll happen. Of course I'm going to be upset if that does happen, but it's a risk I have to take to become a professional footballer.'

Kilman sealed his transfer to Wolves just days ago from National League side Maidenhead United and he appears to be following in the footsteps of fellow exciting young talents.

Other Englishman who have benefitted from playing the fast-paced and intense indoor sport, include Jadon Sancho now at Borussia Dortmund and Watford midfielder Will Hughes.

What is made even more remarkable about Kilman's unique story is that he nearly quit football altogether while playing on loan at seventh-tier side Marlow.

Kilman - a versatile player who can fill in across the midfield and defence - was three years ago chasing a professional career within futsal.

The ambitious youngster added: 'When I was 18 and first in the England futsal team, I was definitely considering going abroad to become professional.

'Football maybe wasn't going as well for me and wasn't heading anywhere, so I was considering it. I was playing for Maidenhead's youth team and slowly broke through, but when I did get into the first team, I was sent on loan two leagues below. It was difficult and a long process.

'It was a bit physical [at Marlow] and while it was enjoyable, I was starting to wonder where my football career was going to go. That's why I was even more willing to play futsal.'

While Kilman may feel the pressure to successfully assert himself at Wolves while playing alongside experienced footballers, he believes playing futsal will stand him in good stead going forward.

'Futsal helps with football quite a lot. Everybody thinks it's all about making you better controlling the ball, but it's about being more aware, more comfortable on the ball and making better decisions.

'It helps because it's really fast and the area is much smaller, so when I came back to football, I was more confident to get the ball from throw-ins, in more tight areas and I felt like I had way more space when I got on a bigger pitch again.'

It remains to be seen whether Kilman manages to enjoy a long and stellar career within football but one thing that is for sure, it will be an inspiring success story for fellow young fustal stars looking to make the high-profile move to the Premier League.

Kilman could one day achieve the unprecedented of becoming a double international but for now, he will be eyeing a move from Wolves' development squad to the first-team.