Andy King will head off the Euro 2016 finals with Wales next month as the most versatile winner in British football.
The Leicester City title winner has become the first player in the Premier League era to become a champion in the top three divisions – Premier League, Championship, and League One.
All have been achieved with the Foxes, the club King – an Englishman who qualifies for Wales through his grandfather – joined when he was a 15-year-old, 12 years ago.
Reflecting on Leicester’s incredible Premier League title triumph, King, who made his debut when the club were relegated to League One, he said: “I thought I’d seen everything with this club, but I never thought I’d see this.
“It’s difficult to put into words. The players deserve it, the gaffer and the staff deserve it, and the fans deserve it. It’s been an unbelievable season.
“The story of where this team has come from to get to this point has been all over the world recently and I think the lads deserve great credit for the way they’ve taken it in their stride, stayed focused and kept delivering results – especially with a great side like Spurs chasing us so hard.
“We’ve been so consistent and just determined not to let the opportunity pass us by. We deserve this.”
King has made 23 league appearances for Leicester so far this season, even though he has regularly had to play a supporting role from the substututes’ bench due to the consistent excellence of N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater in midfeild.
He is the longest-serving player at the King Power Stadium, with title mastermind Claudio Ranieri the seventh manager King has played under.
All have appeared to value his energy, worth ethic and handy goal-scoring knack. Sven Goran Eriksson, who made David Beckham his England captain, had no qualms about King being his skipper in 2010-11, when the player responded by scoring 16 goals in the Championship.
King spent five seasons as a Leicester first-team regular in the Championship and became the club’s highest scoring midfielder in their history when he netted his 54th goal against Wigan in 2014.
His hard work and leadership was rewarded when the Foxes won promotion to the Premier League with six games to spare in 2013/14.
Current Leicester captain and centre-back Wes Morgan has revealed he uses King as one of his trusted lieutenants.
Morgan says: “We get on really well and when I go in to my meetings with the gaffer I go in with Kasper [Schmeichel] for his advice and Kingy as well.
“Kingy is always there, he’s an experienced head and he’s a very important part of the dressing room.”
You’ll hear him in the dressing room. Obviously everyone wants to play but the form that Drinky [Danny Drinkwater] and [N’Golo] Kante has been in you can’t really argue against that.
“He understands how good the team has been and he has been fully supportive of the team. Before we go out he’s there cheering everyone, makes sure everyone is on their game and he’s fully behind us, and when he gets his chance there’s no doubt he comes in and does a good job.”
