Max Kilman's made history for his futsal past and Wolves present, but the 22-year-old is taking it in stride. Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

LONDON -- Have you heard the one about the 22-year-old who went from international futsal and non-league to the Premier League and marking Roberto Firmino in the space of 18 months?

Max Kilman is a trivia night question-master's dream. He is the only international futsal player to appear in the Premier League, and also the first in 12 years since Chris Smalling to go direct from non-league football to the top flight. In his own quiet way, Kilman's journey to becoming a centerback for Wolves is unconventional, but also relatable. He is the Premier League's everyman, his tale like a comic-book adaptation of a young pro: the 21st century's Roy of the Rovers. But he is also an outlier. After all, career paths like his are rarer than a VAR decision without controversy.

When you meet him, you're struck by two things. Firstly, he is tall, at six-foot-five. Secondly, as you peer upwards, you are greeted by a slightly shy smile. He is overwhelmingly polite.

"I am shy," Kilman tells ESPN. "I don't like to boast. I don't like talking about myself. It's just how I am." Talking about himself may have to change.

As reserved as he might seem, Kilman never succumbed to the comfort of self-satisfaction. He could have settled for life as an England futsal player, but the 25 caps weren't enough. Two years ago, in non-league, he could have admitted that was his lot. He was 21; Premier League clubs never pluck someone from non-league at that age. But...no; it was all part of his growth rather than the end point.

Kilman made his Premier League debut aged 23 -- "old" in football terms.

"I wasn't where I wanted to be in football at 17 or 18," Kilman says. "I was on loan from Maidenhead United at Marlow [in the eighth tier of the English football league, then called the Evo-stik League South Division One Central]. You start to have doubts. It's normal for everyone, you can't always be so positive. But as it's happened, it's been more like, 'wow, I'm actually here'. Now I need to absorb it, keep going and make it seem like it's normal."

"Normal" doesn't usually go hand-in-hand with a Premier League player, but the only change to his day-to-day life is spending less time in the lecture theatres at the University of Hertfordshire as he completes a degree in business and sport. He now does those classes online.

Keeping up with life outside football is a priority for Kilman. He was pushed into the degree by his mother. She saw him playing non-league football, training twice a week, and suggested he should plan for a career outside of being a professional sportsman. He was already fluent in Russian (his parents are both half Russian and Ukrainian) and fitted his degree around commitments for Maidenhead -- then in England's fifth tier -- and futsal for England and London Helvetica.