Steve Bull has always been Wolves’ best player, brought to West Bromwich Albion on a low and would go on to become the club’s top goalscorer. But now there are 40 million reasons why Maximilian Kilman’s name is in the frame.
At 27, he left Molineux for around 1,000 times the fee paid to Maidenhead for his services in 2018. He has been excellent for Wolves, captaining the club last season. The question now is whether he can be any better for West Ham United.
Kilman is not to be underestimated. Even his friends have made that mistake in the past. The conversation with Jose Sa, in particular, came to mind. The goalkeeper knows most of his new teammates when they arrive, but not the fresh-faced kid at the back.
Please use Chrome browser for more accessible video player
Watch Kilman’s best bits from the 2023/24 Premier League season
“I talked to him,” he said Sky Sports. “I said, ‘Max, the first training session here, when I saw you, I said to myself that this guy can’t be a player’. In the first session, when we defended, he didn’t run. It’s impossible. This guy didn’t run!”
His confession to Kilman took months after he learned the truth. “I have to apologize to him because after the first session all I thought was that he didn’t run and didn’t deal with it. I ate my words. He was amazing.”
Kilman is not a defender who tends to attract attention with late tackles, although he ranked among the top three in the Premier League last season for head clearances and possession wins in the defensive third. It helps him not to miss a single minute.
His strength, along with this unusual durability, is his composure on defense. It has become a running joke that references to Kilman’s rise cannot ignore his time playing futsal for England but it is an unavoidable element of his development.
A different defender?
Michael Skubala, now head coach at League One side Lincoln City, was England’s futsal manager when Kilman was at the game. Speaking to him when Kilman first appeared at Wolves, Skubala told him Sky Sports: “His journey is quite unique in England.”
He added: “Max is not futsal in a football environment, he is futsal in a futsal environment. That is, he has come out of the professional football system and is in a futsal system trained by a futsal coach.”
That means he is not your average non-League centre-back. He was exposed to other styles of play throughout. “With twin tracking, he got all those elements and he did it for many years. He used futsal to make him a better footballer.”
And he used his early football career to prepare him for the physicality that futsal couldn’t do. Skubala called it “crossing the grass” in reference to making these adjustments to the wide open spaces of the football field. A loan to Marlow helped him get ahead.
Mark Bartley, the manager there, explained: “You don’t need to hit a tackle to impose your physicality on the game and keeping the ball is natural for him. part of his make-up.
“He has great ball manipulation skills. He can draw opponents into a certain area and then just maneuver out of them. You won’t be surprised because it’s an old cliché, good feet for a big man, but he’s incredible. feet.”
Skubala agreed. “He’s very good at dealing with pressure. He never gives the ball away in tight areas. You can count on him security-wise to hold onto the ball.” That quality remains a feature of the game even at Premier League level.
Lopetegui’s plan for Kilman?
Position, it will be interesting to see what Lopetegui has planned for him at West Ham. The most obvious explanation for the appetite for acquisitions is the exit of the left-footed Nayef Aguerd, opening up a seemingly empty place in the Irons squad.
Could Kilman partner Konstantinos Mavropanos in West Ham’s new-look central defence? Early reports indicate that Lopetegui is open-minded about and will assess the situation during pre-season, something that could be due to Kilman’s flexibility.
For example, Nuno Espirito Santo and Bruno Lage both used Kilman in the right back three despite being naturally left-footed. Playing on the opposite side allows him to collect the ball and then move forward with an easily available pass.
Asked Lage about it at the time, he explained: “He drives with the ball. He goes in and when the guys come, he finds space.” Gary O’Neil will later move Kilman back to the right side of the three-man build-up, again hailing his adaptation.
Putting the question of the position to O’Neil, he said: “Sometimes I really like him on the right because he offers different solutions. can do two important things.”
Kilman was used very differently by Lopetegui while at Wolves
Lopetegui, Kilman’s manager at Wolves between Lage and O’Neil, has a more conventional approach. They put him as a left-sided center back in a four-man defense. Kilman was part of eight clean sheets in 11 home games under Lopetegui.
The new West Ham manager was impressed by his work ethic and character, as well as his willingness to take on new ideas. A relative introvert, he has added even more to the game in O’Neil, taking more responsibility as a leader in the dressing room.
Lopetegui is preparing for his first full season as a Premier League manager. He believes Kilman’s peak years are upon him and would not be surprised if that England call-up comes.
Wolves could accept the fee but will miss out on the player. There will be more spectacular signs this summer but some are more discreet. This is a defender who has no weaknesses in the game. Lopetegui and West Ham will benefit.
