As we all know, the beautiful game is full of stories of players who make their name in non-league football before establishing themselves in the EFL and even the Premier League.
However, some stories are more interesting than others. Take, for example, the story of West Ham defender Max Kilman’s rise from the fifth-tier to the top-tier of English football.
From Futsal to the top-flight.
Kilman’s early career didn’t have a conventional start, as although he joined the Fulham academy, he also played Futsal while with the south-west London outfit. He left Fulham’s academy to join Gillingham’s youth set-up.
He failed to make the grade before moving to Welling United, where he played just once in the first team. It was only when Kilman joined Maidenhead United in 2015 that his career really took off, as he made 42 appearances until leaving in 2018 when he joined Wolves.
At 18, Kilman made his debut for England at the international level in Futsal during his time at Maidenhead. He went on to make 25 appearances for the Three Lions before that switch to Wolves.
In fact, the defender has stated in the past that playing Futsal played such a pivotal role in him perfecting his game.
During his time with Maidenhead, the defender also went on loan to Southern League Division One Central side Marlow, where he made 31 appearances. His performances in the 2017/18 season, when he made 39 appearances in the National League, convinced Wolves to sign him.
An unpolished diamond
The move to the Premier League Wolves was a massive step up for Kilman. Going from non-league directly to the Premier League is very rare, and he was the first player since Chris Smalling 12 years earlier to go from non-league football to a Premier League club.
His career was a slow-burner in the Midlands. He started in the clubs’ under-21 team, then made 12 first-team appearances in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons.
Kilman’s breakthrough campaign was the 2020/21 campaign, when he featured 20 times in all competitions. Over the next few seasons, the defender became a regular in the first team, playing more than 34 games in all competitions and becoming a familiar name in the Premier League.
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His displays were so impressive that Kilman was talked about as a potential England international. However, it seemed like Kilman had more international options than just the Three Lions, as his parents were born in Ukraine, with his dad born in Odessa.
In 2021, Ukraine head coach and legend Andriy Shevchenko expressed interest in calling up Kilman to his squad. Shevchenko applied to FIFA for Kilman to switch allegiance to Ukraine. However, the footballing governing body rejected the request because the defender had represented England in Futsal at a competitive level.
Unfortunately, Kilman hasn’t yet earned a call-up to the England national squad. At 28, he still has time to get into the Three Lions contention, especially with the seeming dearth of centre-backs available to England boss Thomas Tuchel.
Still playing in the Premier League
In the summer of 2024, Max Kilman joined his second Premier League club, as West Ham paid a reported fee of around £40m to acquire the services of the defender.
In his debut campaign with the Hammers, he made 41 appearances in all competitions.
The defender has gone on to make 171 appearances and counting, which is not bad going for a player who had to rebuild his career in football from non-league.
Kilman is yet another example of a player who has worked hard and never stopped believing they would reach the top of their profession.