Nigel Clough remembers being told about Harry Maguire when he first became manager at Sheffield United in 2013.

"When we went in, everyone was saying how he (Maguire) had come through at 17, they won the FA Youth Cup with him (they reached the final in 2011 before losing to Manchester United)," said Clough.

"People were saying to us, 'it's been good because he's had Neill Collins alongside him, experience' and all that sort of thing.

"Chris Morgan said to us after about a week or so, 'don't believe what people are saying, he is carrying Neill Collins'.

Harry Maguire in action for Sheffield United in the FA Cup in 2014

"And he was absolutely spot on - Harry was that good."

Maguire's qualities and performances during his time with the Blades early in his career hardly went unnoticed.

He was named United's player of the year for three successive seasons, and he also earned a hat-trick of PFA League One team of the year inclusions, before joining Hull City in 2014 for £2.5m.

Four years after that Hull move - and 13 months on from a subsequent transfer to Premier League Leicester City, with whom he earned another player of the year gong - Maguire is busy building an international reputation as one of the defensive cornerstones of England's run to a first World Cup semi-final in 28 years.

It is not only the 25-year-old's strength in the tackle and the air, though, that has caught the eye.

Nobody was beating Maguire to the ball that he headed home for the Three Lions' opener against Sweden in Saturday's quarter-final - and the forward-thinking sides of his game were evident to Clough half a decade ago.

"The one thing we encouraged him to do was to bring the ball out," added the Burton Albion manager.

"If you look back, especially some of the cup games against higher-league opposition, he used to bring the ball out and create stuff for us all the time.

"He's a very good lad, and he's a threat in the oppositon penalty area - he really wants to go and head it in the opposition penalty area.

"Going back, he got us a goal against Fulham, he actually made it in the 120th minute in the FA Cup run in our first season (at Sheffield United).

"We were actually bottom of the league at the time, we went to Fulham for a replay on the Tuesday night, it was 120 mintues, we got a corner, he won it and headed it across, and Shaun Miller headed it in from a yard.

"He was instrumental in that and getting us going."

Harry Maguire celebrates England World Cup quarter-final victory over Sweden

Maguire scored against the Brewers in last summer's pre-season friendly, lashing home from a corner on a night when then-Foxes boss Craig Shakespeare "was talking about him, saying 'people were saying we'd paid too much'", according to Clough.

"We were talking about it and I said, 'I don't think you've paid too much' - we were all very impressed with him in our time up at Sheffield and thought he was an excellent signing," added the Brewers boss.

Maguire joined Leicester for £17m, but his value has surely sky-rocketed during a World Cup campaign in which he has shown a healthy blend of solidity in defence and composure in possession in Gareth Southgate's back three.

So did Clough know he had a future England international on his hands when he arrived at Bramall Lane in October 2013, even if he may not have expected him to be a part of a World Cup semi-final squad so soon after?

Nigel Clough in his time as Sheffield United manager
Nigel Clough in his time as Sheffield United manager

"You know they're good - but you don't know (if they are internationals in the making), because so many things can happen, the right move, the wrong move and so on," he said.

"You know they're good, and then it's just how far they can go.

"But I think Harry's dedication and things like that, his attitude was always spot on, and he wanted to win.

"He's a quiet lad, but he wanted to win."

England have a huge game against Croatia in the last four tonight (Wednesday), and they could then have the biggest game of them all in Sunday's final.

Maguire will certainly be wanting to win those.