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The future of Kyle Walker has been thrown into doubt this week with reports over an alleged bust-up with Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino but there are some that believe the club already have a long-term replacement ready in his namesake Kyle Walker-Peters.

Kieran Trippier has been the main competition for fellow 26-year-old Walker this season, starting recent big matches against Chelsea and Arsenal in the right-back slot and impressing.

However, there are many within the club that believe Walker-Peters could be the long-term replacement for Walker should one of the links to Manchester City, Manchester United and Barcelona end up coming to fruition.

The 20-year-old put pen to paper in January on a new deal which will keep him at Tottenham until 2019 and he has been training with the first team permanently in recent months, having not appeared in the club's U23s' matches for some time.

Walker-Peters is regularly spotted among the first team players as they travel to matches home and away, eased into the environment gradually as Pochettino has done with countless other young talents at Southampton and then Spurs.

The Edmonton-born full-back has already enjoyed some first-team squad involvement this season having been named on the bench in the FA Cup tie against Aston Villa.

It was not the first time Walker-Peters, who wears the squad number 37, has appeared on the bench under Pochettino. He was also an unused substitute in the Premier League victory against Bournemouth in March last season.

While Walker-Peters’ name bears an uncanny resemblance to Spurs’ first choice right-back’s the two defenders are not related. That hasn’t stopped the comparisons with his namesake though, or with left-back Danny Rose either.

Walker-Peters is primarily a right-back, but he can also play on the left and on occasions during youth games has been utilised further up the pitch for the club’s Premier League 2 side with his pace and fast feet proving to be useful attacking weapons.

Pochettino has been keeping a close eye on the teenager’s progress since his own arrival from Southampton.

The full-back is among the elite group containing the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Marcus Edwards identified by club staff as the next batch of homegrown first-team squad regulars, following on from Harry Winks and Josh Onomah and before them Harry Kane and Ryan Mason.

Walker-Peters impressed Pochettino during recent pre and post-season tours. He featured last summer in the glamour friendly against Atletico Madrid in Melbourne and was in the squad for the Juventus match days earlier.

The full-back has also played in UEFA Youth League matches for Spurs and was recognised as the Premier League U21 Player of the Month back in December 2015.

On the international stage he has been capped by England at U18, U19 and U20 level and signed his first three-year contract in December 2015.

Pochettino often prefers his talented young players to remain in and around the Spurs setup and while Walker-Peters did have a trial at Eredivisie side Roda JC last January with a view to a loan move that did not end up materialising and now he is very much a fixture of the first team squad.

If Walker does move on this summer, Trippier will have a battle on his hands with the emerging defender to become the England international's long term successor.