For Manchester City fans, Kyle Walker is considered one of their star players, with a £160,000-per-week salary to match his sporting talents.
But the sportsman’s humble beginnings are a far cry from the lavish lifestyle he leads today, having witnessed devastating tragedy while growing up on the working class Lansdowne Estate in Sheffield.
Kyle, 34, who is of Jamaican descent, has previously detailed seeing terrifying incidents such a deadly house fire which left a woman dead.
The star, who attended Porter Croft Infant & Junior School and High Storrs School, had previously shed light on his past in a 2022 interview, where he reflected on incidents that have shaped his life.
He told The Mail that one day he arrived home from school to find a woman walking around the vicinity of his home wearing a motorcycle helmet and carrying an axe.
Kyle Walker’s childhood is a far cry from the lavish lifestyle which comes with his role as Manchester City captain, have overcoming his fair share of hardship and tragedy
‘Even now, I say it with a smile on my face,’ he said. ‘At that time, when it happened, I didn’t realise (the significance and seriousness). I wasn’t an adult. I wasn’t aware of what was actually happening. If I look back, I think, ‘That was actually quite bad’.’
Kyle also witnessed a devastating fire that was started at a neighbour’s house, when someone poured petrol through their letterbox and tossed in a match, and he unwittingly stumbled upon the scene while returning home.
‘The fire was bad. Then there was someone hung on the stairs. I was going up on my landing. I didn’t technically see him hang himself but the police blanked it all off and it was next to my house.
‘With the fire, the kids got out. The caretakers caught them on some blankets. The mum threw them out. The mum was a biggish lady and she couldn’t get out.’
Despite these challenges, Kyle has been supported by his father Michael and mum Tracey in his decision to pursue a football career.
The couple met after Michael emigrated to the UK from Kingston, Jamaica, and alongside Kyle, they have two other sons.
Despite being close to his parents, Kyle admitted that he clashed with Michael’s strict parenting style, admittifng he would ‘reduce him to tears’ after every football match.
Speaking on BBC Sounds podcast, You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker, he explained: ‘My dad, I used to hate going to football with him. No matter if I played good or I played bad, I’d get in the car and be reduced to tears.’
The sportsman grew up on the working class Lansdowne Estate in Sheffield by parents Michael and Tracey, after his father emigrated to the UK from Jamaica with just £200 to his name
Kyle previously shared that he witnessed a devastating fire that was started at a neighbour’s house, leading to a woman’s death
Kyle continued: ‘I don’t blame him for that because it’s made me the person and the player that I am. I always want to prove people wrong and during the start of my career it was dad I was trying to prove wrong. He did it because he cared.
Kyle said that despite this, his mother Tracey provided him with ‘caring support’ and it took him many years to win his dad’s approval with his football sporting skills.
‘Sometimes it was very, very tough to get in that car, my mum would be going ‘Michael, leave him alone he’s done well’,’ he added.
‘I could have scored three goals. But he would have said, ‘no, you should have scored six’. Only when I’ve got older in my career, he actually says ”all right, well played son”.
‘After a couple of years at City. I think he was then like ”you know, he actually can play football”.’
Kyle eventually kickstarted his football career at the age of 19 by signing for Sheffield United, and in 2009 he began a six-year stint at Tottenham Hotspur.
In 2017, under manager Pep Guardiola, he was signed to Manchester City, and in 2023 he was named as the club’s captain, winning six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup.
Kyle has previously shared that his own upbringing has helped shaped how he parents his four sons, who he shares with wife Annie Kilner.
He said: ‘With my kids now I don’t let them win. If I keep letting them win, when they lose it will be traumatic for them. We play football games in the garden and I give it my all because it will instil that into them, they will be better people and become winners.
‘My dad’s parents were from Jamaica and left him in England with £200 and a washer when he was 17. So, he passed it down from his parents to me.
‘I try to not do the same as much as possible. But where he taught me to be a winner I try to pass that on to the boys.’
Kyle – who now earns £160,000 a week at City – also said that he partially wishes his children could have the same upbringing as he did.
Kyle – who now earns £160,000 a week at City – also said that he partially wishes his children could have the same upbringing as he did (pictured with wife Annie Kilner)
Kyle eventually kickstarted his football career at the age of 19 by signing for Sheffield United, and he joined Manchester City in 2017
‘I say now have the privileges of having nice things but the kids have to entertain themselves. They play with their brothers and that’s it,’ he said.
‘I wish sometimes I could put them on an estate to mingle with different people and have different friends when I was growing up you’d go and call for your mates.’
Kyle is currently battling to save his relationship with Annie, 32, after fathering not one but two children with Lauryn during their marriage.
Annie booted him out of their £4million family mansion in Cheshire once the truth was exposed – leaving Kyle to take out a six month lease on accommodation.
In July, Lauryn lost her child maintenance battle with the footballer after a series of tumultuous months.
In an interview with The Sun on Sunday, the influencer described Kyle as a man who wanted to ‘have his cake and eat it’ and rather than being the ‘gold digger’ she has been portrayed as, she is simply trying to do right by their children.
She said: ‘I do grow tired of all the criticism sometimes, but I don’t regret fighting to financially protect my children from an errant father.’
Last month, an extraordinary court judgement saw Lauryn accused of using Kyle as an ‘open ended cheque book and of having ‘repeatedly threatened him in order to get what she wanted’.
She said that while her recent court hearing had painted her as someone with an ‘insatiable greed and relentless pursuit of money’, she maintained that she is financially solvent through her job as an influencer and regular appearances on TV shows.
