Kieran Trippier did not think he would win a single cap for England once upon a time - let alone play in three successive major tournaments. However, the Newcastle United defender will surely be one of the first names on Gareth Southgate's team sheet once again when the Three Lions face Iran in their World Cup opener on Monday.
Trippier has long earned Southgate's trust as the England boss' go-to big-game player, whether it is the opening game of the group stage, a World Cup semi-final or, even, the final of the European Championships. This tournament will be no different, particularly with the form the right-back is in.
When it comes to successful crosses, passes into the final third, chances created and chances created from set-pieces, Trippier ranks among the very best in the Premier League and not just for defenders. No wonder Trippier has vowed not to let anyone tell him when his time is up - the 32-year-old is coming into his prime.
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Trippier has also made real strides defensively, following a title-winning spell at Atletico Madrid, and the England international has clearly looked after himself to thrive as a modern day full-back under Eddie Howe. It goes without saying that much has changed since the pair last worked together at Burnley when Trippier and former team-mate David Edgar loved a night out.
"I know Eddie didn't like that about either of us and he was right," Edgar told ChronicleLive. "Kieran has gone on and you go through that phase of your life. He's a family man now and Eddie knows that. He knows what he is getting. He's just a top professional.
"It's funny to see the relationship now compared to what it was because there were some funny times then at Burnley. They clashed, but they had the utmost respect.
"The fact Tripps did come to Newcastle years later when they were in a relegation dogfight speaks volumes of him as a human being. That he was willing to do that with Eddie as a manager speaks volumes about the impact he made on him during his time at Burnley and the impact that Eddie has to be able to pull in characters like that and keep them there."
It said it all that there were no escape clauses in Trippier's contract when the England international swapped life in the Champions League for an immediate relegation battle with Newcastle last January. Trippier was just the sort of character Newcastle needed and the veteran, who wears the armband when club captain Jamaal Lascelles does not play, has been a leader in the dressing room ever since.
Trippier addressed his new team-mates on literally his first day at the club and when Newcastle suffered an embarrassing defeat against Cambridge United later that week, which could have had a destabilising effect, it was the new arrival who got up after his debut and told those around him to forget about the loss and just take one match at a time. Newcastle did not lose any of their next eight fixtures as the Magpies pulled clear of danger.
Trippier may have missed half of those matches through injury, but the 32-year-old still travelled with the squad to games and helped maintain standards as former team-mate Federico Fernandez recalled.
"Kieran knew the staff from before so that helped him straight away when coming into a good spirit," Fernandez told ChronicleLive. "He helped us in the leadership group. He interacted with us on what we can improve, what we can do for the team.
"He was such a leader and worked really hard in training with a good mentality and did not put anyone down after a bad result. He was just thinking positively and looking ahead to the next game. These are the kind of players you need in the dressing room."
It has been quite a journey to this point. It was not that long ago, after all, that Trippier was following older brother Kelvin up and down the country in the family caravan. Kelvin's career as a professional footballer was ultimately curtailed by injury which, in some ways, pushed Trippier on to make the very most of his. Indeed, Jim Cassell, who worked with Trippier as Man City's academy director, told ChronicleLive the 32-year-old is 'valuing every single day that he's got left in the game.'
That Trippier remains in contact with Cassell and former Man City youth coach Steve Eyre should not come as a surprise. Trippier has never forgotten where he came from as Barnsley manager Michael Duff discovered once again when he caught up with his former Burnley team-mate at St George's Park a few months ago.
"Knowing his family, I don't think they would let him change that much," Duff told ChronicleLive. "Obviously, you are going to change but moving and taking your family to Madrid makes you grow up. You can't be the boy from Bury when you're living in Madrid.
"There's always that sort of salt of the earth boy in him. He appreciates where he's come from. He doesn't take it for granted.
"He's managed to remember where he's from, but come away from it enough to be that professional footballer without getting lost in the world and nonsense of being a professional footballer. He's got that balance of 'where I'm from and where I need to be' perfect."
The chance to come back to the north and be nearer his family was one of the main reasons why Trippier wanted to swap Madrid for Newcastle back in January. These were not just empty words; Trippier genuinely gets back home when time allows to visit his parents, Chris and Eleanor, who, refreshingly, still live in the same council house in Summerseat all these years later.
Trippier has never lost sight of his roots and even returned to his old school at Woodhey High in Bury just two weeks after the last World Cup finished. To this day, pupils still ask PE teacher Lee Garcka about the school's most famous graduate, who once even offered to sort tickets for his former mentor for an Atletico Madrid game when he learned he was in the Spanish capital.
As staff and pupils prepare to gather around to watch England's opening group match, in some ways, Trippier's time at the school serves as much as an inspiration to them as his exploits with Newcastle and the Three Lions
"Kieran was someone who was captain of the team," Garcka told ChronicleLive. "He was a great organiser, a great motivator. He was always able to get the team putting in that extra 10% into things. He didn't really need telling or coaching too much - he just took things on himself. That's the kind of kid he was.
"In the playground, he would organise teams and make sure they were fair. He never picked all his mates on the same team - he wanted to make sure things were a challenge. He wanted to involve other people.
"Even when you taught in PE, he always passed to the kids in the class who maybe weren't as strong. He had that ability to involve everybody. It wasn't just, 'I want to be on the best team. I want to win all the time.' He understood that it was important to keep everybody together and he took that onto the pitch with him."
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