Pep Guardiola has revealed that Kyle Walker has asked to leave Manchester City.
The England defender was left out of the squad for the 8-0 win over League Two side Salford City in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Asked after the game about the reason behind Walker’s omission, Guardiola explained that Walker asked City director of football Txiki Begiristain on Thursday to be allowed to move to “another country” in the January window.
“It’s not easy for me to say because I should tell him, but he’s not here, so two days ago Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad at the end of his career,” Guardiola told a news conference.
“He’s been our right-back, giving us something we didn’t have, but now in his mind he would like to explore to go to another country to play his last years for many reasons. For that reason, I prefer to play other players whose mind is here. He went to Txiki. He asked to explore, it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen because you never know the situation.”
Walker came close to leaving the Etihad in 2023 when Bayern Munich offered him a two-year contract. He was convinced to stay after holding a private dinner with Guardiola and later signed a new three-year deal and was made club captain.
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