Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that veteran defender Kyle Walker has asked to leave the club. The Spaniard revealed that the team’s captain is exploring other options.
Walker has played 15 matches in the ongoing Premier League season. The 34-year-old joined the Cityzens in the 2017-18 season and since then he has played an instrumental role in the success of the club.
The England international was left out of the squad for the 8-0 win over League Two side Salford City in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Guardiola confirmed that Walker asked City director of football Txiki Begiristain on Thursday to be allowed to move to “another country” in the January window.
“It’s not easy for me to say because I should tell him, but he’s not here, so two days ago Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad at the end of his career,” Guardiola told a news conference.
“He’s been our right-back, giving us something we didn’t have, but now in his mind he would like to explore to go to another country to play his last years for many reasons. For that reason, I prefer to play other players whose mind is here. He went to Txiki. He asked to explore, it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen because you never know the situation.”
In 2023, Walker was in talks with Bayern Munich for a two-year contract but the deal could not be sealed.
“He asked [to leave] two years ago after the treble,” Guardiola said. “Bayern wanted him but the offer was not good enough and the club [told] him how important he is. We cannot understand the success we had these years without Kyle. It’s impossible.
After a poor start to the season, Walker has not been a regular starter for the Sky Blues.
“I respect a lot because I’m more than grateful since he has been [here] many years for us. His first season here, we started to win, win, win, win, win.
“He’s been important for the national team and important for our team but he said that ‘I want to explore, my mind and my heart and I want to explore it’. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Manchester City will next take on Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Tuesday.
