Kyle Walker ‘to turn down interest from AC Milan to complete the last 12 months of his Manchester City deal’…
- The Manchester City right-back enters the final 12 months of the current deal
- Kyle Walker will reportedly turn down interest from abroad to stay at City
- Opens the door to a swan song career at Sheffield United youth club
Kyle Walker will reportedly refuse interest from abroad to stay at Manchester City for the last 12 months of his contract.
The 32-year-old joined City in 2017 and has been a key part of four Premier League title-winning sides, although his minutes have dropped significantly this season.
With Pep Guardiola openly admitting that Walker cannot fulfill the inverted full-back role he craves from both right-back and left-back, his future at City has become increasingly uncertain.
According to The sunhowever, he will turn down interest from abroad to stay at City until the end of his current contract, which expires next summer.
For a reported £160,000 a week, Walker has been linked with AC Milan in recent weeks.
Kyle Walker will reportedly refuse interest from abroad to complete his Manchester City deal
The right back is not having his best season in a City shirt, but has been performing well in recent weeks
It is alleged that, despite interest from the seven-time champions of Europe, Walker will not push for a move away from City and will remain happy at the club.
His reported desire to stay opens up the possibility of him seeing the final blows of his professional career at youth club Sheffield United.
Walker makes no secret of his desire to appear before the Blades before hanging up his boots, and appears to have set his sights on returning to the Steel City when his time with City is over.
Despite losing his spot to Rico Lewis and John Stones at various intervals this season, Walker has reaffirmed in recent weeks that he is Guardiola’s first-choice right-back.
Such are the plethora of options available to Guardiola, but it’s unclear from game to game exactly which side he will choose.
For several weeks it seemed that Walker had completely lost his claim to a starting place, with the Catalan settling for a situation where the right-sided full-back had to move into midfield in possession of the ball.
Guardiola himself had stated that Walker could not fill the role in which Stones excelled, although his recent performances, particularly against dangerous men Gabriel Martinelli for Arsenal and Vinicius Junior for Real Madrid, have earned him praise.
“I’ve had a hard time sometimes when things don’t go your way, other than football or a bit of bad form,” he recently revealed.
His reported rejection of European interest opens the door to a potential Sheffield United swan song
“I always think, go back to basics — what brought you to your happy place. Sometimes things are out of your control,” Walker added. “Everyone of us down there thinks they should play.
“It’s how you react. I’m the worst, I hate not playing. But with my experience and age I think, “Okay, I’ll put the manager aside and be here for the team”.
“And I will make sure the boys have my support. Whether it’s me screaming in the dressing room beforehand, or like last season’s last game against Aston Villa
“I was the one screaming and running down the sideline because it meant something to me.
“I had to do what I could as one of the captains to make sure the other guys got the win we needed.”