The journey to the east side of Manchester is always the same for Kyle Walker, a white chocolate mocha from Café Nero resting in his cup holder. Ordered via his phone, ready to be picked up. It provides a sense of routine before work.
He will have a brief chat with the security guards at Manchester City’s training base and head to his reserved area, right next to the entrance to a world where Pep Guardiola plots domination. A familiar feeling every time.
And that feeling of deja vu is no longer only present at the City Football Academy. Wembley is known, winning is known, Walker walks out with teams wearing an armband is known.
He points out that victory over Manchester United in Saturday’s FA Cup final would mean a fourth trophy as captain. In this moment, normalcy lifts for City and for Walker, a medal around the neck and lifting a big shiny thing with a small mold onto a hastily assembled podium.
The only difference this weekend, when they take on their embattled rivals, is that there are a few steps to the Royal Box.
Kyle Walker lifted the Premier League trophy last weekend, his third silver medal as Man City captain
But Walker almost left City last summer due to an extramarital affair with Lauryn Goodman (pictured)
Walker publicly apologized to his wife Annie after admitting his affair with Goodman
“Sunday was my Treble,” says Walker, looking back on the Premier League title, added to the Super Cup and Club World Cup. ‘For the real icing on the cake, I want to add this. Four in your first year as captain wouldn’t be bad.’
When will this all end? This is unlikely to happen as long as Guardiola remains in situ. And the right-back has had so much to do with this.
City parted with £50 million to sign him from Tottenham seven years ago, branded ‘crazy money’ by Jose Mourinho. Walker is now back in the capital chasing a 16th major trophy.
After all this time, he still has a good relationship with the manager, the sounding board for the players’ side. He found his voice in the locker room as the gilded elders of yesteryear said goodbye one by one. So much so that his eventual departure, alongside Kevin De Bruyne, will be felt as keenly as any departure in the past. And not just because of his lightning speed or the evolution of his game.
As we know, that might as well have been last summer. Bayern Munich came knocking – Thomas Tuchel wanted a more Premier League feel for his team and also brought in Harry Kane – and Walker was concerned about the decision.
At one point he had one foot out the door. He turns 34 on Tuesday, so it will happen sooner or later, but the flirt with the Bundesliga made it clear what he actually had here.
“That was a moment in my personal life where I felt like I wanted to leave England and it had nothing to do with football reasons,” he says. “It was a personal thing for me where I thought maybe a break from England would have been good for me.
‘But first and foremost I have to think about football. It’s what I love most and I felt like at the end of it I would be a lot happier at Manchester City than at Bayern Munich.”
These personal matters have been a constant source of front-page news for quite some time. Walker has fathered six children, four boys with wife Annie – all of whom were on the Etihad pitch with him last weekend – and two with model Lauryn Goodman during a long-term extramarital affair. After MailOnline exclusively revealed in January that Walker is the father of Goodman’s daughter – born in August last year – there has been a less-than-constructive audience back and forth.
Goodman was ‘absolutely furious’ after Walker publicly apologized to his wife amid the cheating allegations.
Walker will host the Club World Cup in December with three of his sons and wife Annie
Walker brought his son, who was born last month, onto the pitch ahead of City’s final league match against West Ham
Walker publicly apologized after his relationship with Goodman, with whom he shares two children, came to light
The City defender responded by hiring lawyers to hit back at Goodman after accusing her of promoting “wild and untrue stories” that they were in an “intimate and loving” relationship.
Walker also claimed that Goodman made him a series of ‘unrealistic’ demands to keep the paternity of their baby daughter a secret, while Goodman has since taken another swipe at Walker by revealing that their four-year-old son, Kairo, has asked: ‘ Where’s my daddy?’
There is no doubt that Walker’s form dipped earlier this season. Walker recaptured that after the New Year and has continued to lead City despite what happens before he orders that mocha. He talks as if he is about to reject the rise of Saudi gold and at least play another season under Guardiola.
“I’ll go as long as I can,” he says. ‘This is a job I love, I never wake up and think I don’t want to be in it. I love playing football, it makes me happy. It’s my happy place.
‘I still have two years left and I still think I can give more to the team. Why can’t we do five titles in a row?’ Stable, now. Before that there is a European Championship and before that there is Saturday’s cup final. Still, it will be a sweet melody for Guardiola to hear Walker speak like that.
Walker claims City still have some catching up to do with their crosstown rivals and Liverpool in the history books. He’s not wrong: City are going for their 28th major trophy on Saturday and United for their 44th. Liverpool remains at 46.
But in terms of dominance, the past four years cannot be matched. Guardiola’s City are a standard bearer for future generations, just as Sir Alex Ferguson had been. “When I first came here you saw a lot of United shirts and now you see a lot of kids wearing City shirts,” says Walker.
‘We are swinging the pendulum, but we have to keep going because the United and Liverpool teams have done that for years. We do that now; Long may it continue and we must persevere.
“We’re building this dynasty and legacy that people will look to in this team. We could be the first team to do the double-double. We have set the bar so high and I don’t think any of us will understand what we are achieving until we are done with football or things get back to normal, which I hope won’t happen soon and (not) take long. I’m at City.’
That level of self-awareness perhaps indicates that these players actually know exactly what they are achieving. Walker ran towards Mateo Kovacic as the final whistle blew after the final day win over West Ham, as thousands of people stormed the Etihad pitch.
He wanted to share the instant gratification with someone who – despite being a serial Champions League winner at Real Madrid – had never been part of a title-winning side in England.
Walker will aim for another trophy this weekend in a repeat of last year’s FA Cup final against Man United, which City won 2-1 thanks to an Ilkay Gundogan brace (left)
Walker expects a tough battle against United despite their problems this season
Things like that are important and things like that keep this City team fresh. ‘The first to win four in a row, the first since United to do the Treble. We keep knocking down these hurdles and the Double Double is another one we need to knock down,” Walker said. “But it’s against our rivals who live in the same city and want to rain on our parade.”
United tried that last year and failed, the week before City completed the Holy Grail in Istanbul. Walker was not in the team that night, having been told off by Guardiola 24 hours before kick-off and took a few hours to process the news before making the final speech before they went out and pretty much dealt with Inter.
He can now think about that in a place of professional rest and the veteran admits he may not play as much next year. Manuel Akanji is more than capable on the right and the manager likes four centre-halves at the back.
And yet he is peaceful about that prospect, with Rico Lewis deserving more minutes and the issue being whether he is a full-back or a central midfielder. Walker has always been a man who thrives on a little competition.
Walker insists he still has a ‘great relationship’ with Pep Guardiola despite not starting last season’s Champions League final
‘People consider the Champions League final a disappointment for me, but someone would miss it. You take it on the chin and you move on. I don’t sulk or drop my lip, Pep did it for the right reasons to win the match. We have a great relationship. I came in and played for those few minutes. That was enough for me. I played in a Champions League final and helped the team get over the line.
“This year has been hard and difficult. It’s hard to finish that high when you win the Treble, but that’s where you look at the senior members – people who have been here for a long time like me, Kevin, Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Ederson who have done it time and time again done .
“If something is wrong, there is no superiority or superstardom that no one can speak to. We are part of history and we want it to stay that way.”