Kyle Walker leaves Man City: The 1990s throwback who became best right-back of a generation
Those who know him say he is not a captain like Vincent Kompany who would roll up his sleeves and charge into the fray.
Walker, 34, is a people person, a joker and a wind-up businessman. Not too intense, a ’90s-style player who’s still cutting it in the 2020s. He cares about his teammates and makes the atmosphere in the locker room positive. As young people perform their media duties, he wants to know how well they do.
When Walker gave a speech before the final in Turkey, he actually said “It was my dream to win this game, I took care of you, and now you owe me a favor in return.”
The reality for most right-backs is that their ability is often overlooked.
Gary Neville is an outstanding player in his own right. But what earned him eight league titles and 85 caps for England was the selfless way he kept the ball out of his hands, first to David Beckham and then to Cristiano Ronaldo, over and over again.
Walker is no Trent Alexander-Arnold. He can’t make accurate passes down the field. Ultimately, he wasn’t the inverted full-back Guardiola thought the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss wanted.
What Walker possesses is dazzling speed and insatiable competitiveness.
When one Tottenham official looked back on the player’s £50m move north in 2017, he said his club felt they had got a good deal because Walker was not ” Absolute top player” and those attributes may have been overlooked while they still had Kieran Trippier.
Six league titles and 93 England caps suggest Tottenham were wrong in their assessment.
