Walkers’ Teammates Persuaded Him to Stay — Pep Guardiola

Manchester City’s boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that his players were the ones who persuaded exit-bound Kyle Walker to renew his commitment to the club.

Walker who joined City from Tottenham Hotspur in 2017 was a subject of interest from Bayern Munich in the just concluded summer transfer window, but the England international somehow renewed his contract at the Etihad Stadium by an additional two years, as reported yesterday.

Guardiola said: “When Bayern Munich call you it is a big, big, big opportunity, there are no doubts about that.

“We did our job to try to convince him to stay and the benefits to stay, and I promise you, because it was not just me, the club did too but especially it was his mates. They made a lot of meetings, saying ‘Kyle, you cannot leave’, and they made him feel how much he is beloved by everyone and in the end he decided to stay.”

The Spanish man further added on the right back’s personality, saying: “He has an incredible heart.

“When players are injured he calls – he called me twice. [He] takes care of staff. This counts a lot, people say how good the players are, and the reason why we have success is we have quality humans. This is the reason why.”

Kyle Walker has been a key figure in City’s dressing room over the years, and has captained the club in recent weeks – a role he’s set to replicate for the side’s away encounter at West Ham later today.