Kyle Walker transfer: Man City defender is one of Pep Guardiola’s most trusted players – but time catches up with everyone | Football news

By the end of his first season in charge, Pep Guardiola realized that a major overhaul of the Manchester City squad would be needed to win the trophies he was brought in to win.

Ten first-team regulars were shown the exit door in the summer of 2017 and a host of new talent was brought in to pave the way for an era of domestic dominance.

Central to this was the signing of Kyle Walker, who at the time was the most expensive defender in English football history, arriving from Tottenham for a fee worth more than £50m including add-ons.

Guardiola needed more energy from his full-backs to realize his vision, and Walker was seen as the perfect upgrade on fan favorite Pablo Zabaleta, who was sacked at 32.

Eyebrows were raised at the time, but in the seven-and-a-half years since, Walker has made back that transfer fee many times over.

In his first season at the Etihad, the right-back helped transform a struggling defense to become Premier League champions with a record number of points. In the years that followed, Walker became the mainstay of a City team that dominated at home, and in 2023, he finally got his hands on the holy grail, the Champions League trophy, for the first time.

Walker subsequently captained the side to another Premier League title last season, as well as becoming the first world champion at another club.

There is no doubt how much he has developed as a player at City, becoming one of Guardiola’s most trusted defenders and proving on his day that he is the best in the world at one-on-one defending.

Rather than fear facing Kylian Mbappe or Vinicius Junior, the running joke among City’s squad is that Walker carries them around in his pocket and is actually feared. The English defender is so convinced that he has the measure of the best in the world, that he named his podcast that.

During his decade in charge, Guardiola has evolved his system to prefer his full-backs to turn and join central midfield, and Walker has also had to evolve. Although he has adapted his game to be able to slot in from full-back, while Joao Cancelo has been a more attacking option on the opposite side, Walker is not suited to the current system.

In April 2023, Guardiola frankly told us in a press conference that Walker “can’t do it”. As a result he was not selected for the Champions League final, a game in which Guardiola decided possession would be decisive, despite Walker completely nullifying Real Madrid’s wide attacking threat in the two legs of the semi-final.

However, the ultimate disappointment of his career is also the occasion where Walker’s leadership qualities were at their strongest.

having he was told he would not start the biggest game of his club careerWalker took it upon himself to give a heartfelt pregame speech in the locker room where he told his teammates that his dream was in their hands.

It worked and will always have a Champions League medal to prove it. He started in the FIFA Club World Cup final six months later.

But, as with Zabaleta in 2017, time eventually catches up. Walker has made too many mistakes this season and has looked like a shadow of the player who toyed with Mbappe in those fascinating encounters.

Not many Premier League footballers make the front and back pages of newspapers, and this season Walker’s name appears more in celebrity gossip columns than Manchester City match reports.

Rico Lewis is preferred at right-back for the club and has now also joined his senior team-mate in the England squad, to add further competition there.

Walker has been an incredible servant to his country, playing in two lost European Championship finals among his 93 appearances for England, and his ambition is burning to reach his century. He hopes he can achieve that career goal if he remains relevant in Europe’s top league.

Despite this, it is an unusual situation for the club captain to ask for a transfer in January, especially after winning so much.

Whatever Walker’s motivation for seeking a new challenge abroad, it will bring down the curtain on an incredible era of success in the blue side of Manchester and in the Premier League.