AC Milan have bagged a spectacular winter transfer and captain Kyle Walker has been lured away from Manchester City. It is the first time the Englishman has played abroad.
It was a transfer with a long lead time. And Kyle Walker had a prominent advocate at his new club. None other than Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in his new role as Senior Advisor, recently publicly enthused: “Everyone knows Walker is a great player, he’s done great things at City. When someone like him is on the market, there’s a lot of interest. That’s not at odds with our vision because he’s strong, he’s a leader, opinionated in the dressing room.”
However, a financial solution also had to be found to pry the Skyblues captain out of England, where he is still contracted to Manchester City until the summer of 2026. That solution has now been found: Walker will initially join the Rossoneri on loan until the summer, after which they will have an option to buy.
Walker was left out by Pep Guardiola and was not even in the Premier League squad because he was exploring options abroad. “I only let players play who are here with their heads,” said the Catalan. Racist agitation against his person in the midst of the sporting crisis at Manchester City in mid-December only strengthened Walker’s thoughts of leaving.
Title chasers in Manchester
The 93-time English A-national player (one goal) had moved from Tottenham Hotspur to the Skyblues in the summer of 2017 for over 50 million euros. Since then, he has become English champion six times, won the Champions League, the Club World Cup, the FA Cup twice and the League Cup four times.
Due to his consistently strong performances, Walker was still wearing the captain’s armband for ManCity until recently. He made a total of 319 competitive appearances (six goals, 23 assists) for “his” club. In the current season, he made 15 appearances in the Premier League (nine from the start) and two in the Champions League (only in the starting lineup in the 2-0 defeat in Turin).
In Milan, Walker is likely to compete with Emerson Royal on the right side of defense. The Brazilian has played 17 Serie A games so far – 16 of them from the start.
