Kyle Walker Has Asked To Leave Manchester City

Kyle Walker is ready to leave Manchester City. Pep Guardiola revealed the news shortly after his side won 8-0 against Salford in the FA Cup Third Round this weekend. Pep has always been clear that he will not stop players leaving if they wish to do so and he reiterated this in his press conference after the game. It is unclear when he will leave and where he will go, but he has made his wish to play abroad quite clear.

Manchester City 8-0 Salford

Kyle Walker was left out of the Manchester City squad that beat Salford yesterday despite having only two recognised defenders on the pitch. That didn’t seem to matter though as City’s vastly more expensive squad blew away the visitors with ease. After the match Pep announced Walker’s intention to leave saying that he had spoken to the Director of Football on Thursday about the situation.

🚨 BREAKING: Kyle Walker has asked to leave Manchester City.

“Two days ago, Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad and end his career”, says Pep Guardiola. pic.twitter.com/ZOZsDhBQBG

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 11, 2025

Whether Walker was left out of the squad for this reason, or whether Guardiola just wanted to rest him is unclear, but either way he wasn’t needed as James McAtee scored a hattrick to give City the win. Jeremy Doku, Divin Mubama, Nico O’Reilly and Jack Grealish all scored too in what was a dominant performance.

The Future For Walker and Manchester City

The 34-year-old defender joined Manchester City in 2017 and has played over 300 times for the English Champions. This season City have been in poor form and Walker’s age has started to show slightly, leading Pep to look elsewhere. Rico Lewis and even Manuel Akanji have played at right back for parts of this season which might be why Walker is looking to leave.

AC Milan have already shown an interest in signing him however they do not want to spend any money and with Walker still having 18 months left on his contract, that could be quite difficult. There is always a possibility that Manchester City come to an agreement to cancel his contract to allow him to leave, but they may want a fee for him to help fund other transfers that they have their eye on.

Abdukodir Khusanov to Manchester City is a done deal, per multiple reports

He'll be the first Uzbek player to play in the Premier League and the 119th different country represented in the league 🇺🇿 pic.twitter.com/cflVFrjzOY

— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 10, 2025

City have already signed Uzbekistan international defender Abdukodir Khusanov from Lens for £33m and they also have shown an interest in Omar Marmoush of Eintracht Frankfurt. Pep is rebuilding his Manchester City team in the hopes that he can reclaim the title next year, as the Premier League title race seems like it is already over this season, and it appears as if that will be without Walker.