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Pep Guardiola has revealed that club captain Kyle Walker has asked to leave Manchester City this month and explore the option of playing abroad as his career starts to wind down.
Walker, 34, still has 18 months left on his contract having signed a new three-year deal in the summer of 2023 when he was wanted by Bayern Munich but the German side were unable to agree a deal with City.
The right-back has fallen out of favour in recent weeks, having not started a game since the 2-1 defeat in the Manchester derby on 15 December, and he wasn’t even selected for the much-rotated side that thrashed League Two Salford City 8-0 in the FA Cup on Saturday evening with Matheus Nunes deputising in defence instead.
Guardiola has now revealed why, admitting that the England international has requested to leave the club in the January transfer window to play abroad and he doesn’t believe he is in the right headspace to contribute to the team.
“Two days ago Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad at the end of his career,” explained Guardiola in his post-match press conference following the Salford win.
“He asked two years ago after the treble, Bayern wanted him but the offer was not good enough and the club asked him how important was this? We cannot understand the success the club has had in these years without Kyle. It’s impossible – he’s been our right-back, giving us something we didn’t have.
“But now, in his mind, he would like to explore going to another country to play his last years for many reasons. For that reason, I prefer to play other players whose mind is still here.”
There is reported interest in Walker from Saudi Arabia and he has now taken matters into his own hands, approaching Man City directly to request a transfer this month.
“He went to Txiki [Man City director of football Txiki Begiristain] and I am pretty convinced that there’s no one in our job who can perform when they don’t want to be where they are,” Guardiola explained.
“He asked to explore [his options] but it doesn’t mean it’s definitely going to happen because you never know the situation. I respect it a lot because I’m more than grateful to him for the many years he has been here 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 he wants to explore options, in his mind and his heart he wants to explore it.”
