Kyle Walker has often been seen as a bit of a show pony. A defender without much in the way of positional or defensive ability and a wing-back whose crosses aren’t always that accurate.

By now, though, his image has changed. The Tottenham Hotspur right-back is lucky, in many respects, to be part of a team whose natural width comes from their attack-minded full-backs. Danny Rose and Kyle Walker are the heartbeat of the Spurs side this season. On average, both players make more than one key pass per game, and both make upwards of 40 passes per game, too. Not only are they involved more than most players in the Tottenham side, but the entire back three system employed by Mauricio Pochettino of late is designed to get the best out of both of them.

Wing-backs, as Jonathan Wilson pointed out in The Guardian this week, aren’t really ‘backs’ at all any more. English is the only language which employs a term for the position with any kind of defensive connotation, whereas full-backs or wing-backs are known as ‘laterals’ in French, Spanish and Portuguese. The defensive baggage is unhelpful, Wilson thinks.

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It certainly is unhelpful when talking about Walker and Rose. But if the pair are solid enough defensively and able to add enough to the team going forward to play in that role, the dual requirement of being able to both attack and defend isn’t what makes the role so demanding by itself.

As a wing-back in the modern game, you essentially provide everything your team needs on your home flank. Technical ability is important, but athletic ability is pretty much half the battle. You need - as Manchester United’s players used to say of central midfielder Park Ji-Sung - three lungs to play that role. Perhaps that’s why Pep Guardiola has been toying with Fernandinho at full-back for Manchester City over the last few weeks.

This week, rumours surfaced that Barcelona are interested in taking Walker to the Camp Nou this summer. If that’s true, Walker is, essentially, the replacement for the epitome of the attacking wing-back, Dani Alves.

If that sounds strange, well, it’s because it kind of is.

Only a few years ago, Walker was a punchline and a liability, and many Spurs fans are still of that opinion. Besides, if Barcelona are going to take any of Tottenham’s full-backs, you’d have thought it would be Danny Rose.

And yet Luis Enrique’s side isn’t in the market for a left-back. They have Jordi Alba there. At right-back, however, they currently choose between Sergi Roberto and Aleix Vidal. Losing Alves wasn’t just about losing a right-back. Most teams might see their full-backs as fairly dispensable members of their team: by replacing them, you’re not replacing part of the spine of your side, and if the new defender makes a mistake, well, he’s doing it in a wide area where there is ultimately less danger than there would be in a central one.

But Alves was never just a defender to Barcelona. He was a ploy and a dummy runner, a man who gave opposition defences something to think about, creating space for Lionel Messi and friends in the centre. He was an attacking piece of the team, first and foremost - often the furthest forward player. But most importantly, Alves stretched the pitch. Both Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola were firm believers in passing the ball out from the back in order to keep possession and start moves from deep. But that tactic leaves you vulnerable to high-pressing teams - just as Spurs proved to Manchester City earlier in the season.

For Barcelona, Alves was a player who provided an out-ball. When the central defender is being closed down in possession, you don’t want him to find a pass in the centre, and if he has to knock it long, it shouldn’t be down the middle of the pitch. Instead, Alves provided the option of a long diagonal ball or a pass into a corner. If the centre back gets that pass wrong - as we said earlier - he’ll do less damage than if he loses it in a central area.

But Alves could only become that piece of the jigsaw because the modern ‘lateral’ needs severe athletic ability. And that’s something Walker seems to have, that ability to be both an attacker and a covering defender at the same time: the ability to do the job of two players, the full-back and the winger.

Modern football seems to have moulded the desired skillset of the full-back to fit perfectly with that of Walker’s. Perhaps that’s a case of unfathomable good luck, but it could see him replace the best right-back of a generation at Barcelona.

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