After 319 games and 13 major titles – Kyle Walker set to depart Man City for AC Milan

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Set to sign 

AC Milan are set to complete the signing of Manchester City full-back Kyle Walker, after the England international agreed a reported 12-month loan deal with the Serie A giants. The deal will take Walker up to within the last six months of his current contract with the Premier League giants, at which point he’ll be able to consider offers from other clubs. According to Fabrizio Romano, the Italian club will cover Walker’s Man City salary over the course of the loan deal and have an option to buy the player at any point. 

Rumour

K. Walker

Right-Back

Man City		83 %		AC Milan
Premier League				Serie A

The 34-year-old full-back had previously been heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich in 2023 but instead opted to sign a contract extension with Man City. However, age seems to have finally caught up with the England international, with a hamstring injury hampering Walker’s effectiveness towards the end of the previous league campaign. So far this season Walker has only started for Man City in 41% of their league games and has largely been deemed surplus to requirement. As such, a departure in the January transfer window comes as no surprise. Despite being  heavily linked with a move to cross-city rivals Inter, Walker seems to have settled on a move to AC Milan.

Walker leaves Man City as something of a symbolic departure from Pep Guardiola’s squad. Since making the move to Man City in 2017 from Tottenham in a deal worth just under €53 million, Walker has been an ever-present member of Guardiola’s back-line. In that time the defender has won six Premier League titles, four English League Cups, two FA Cups and the all-important Champions League in 2023. And in many ways the player’s remarkable pace was seen as the cornerstone of Guardiola’s tactics to play a high defensive line and impose his team’s will on opposing sides throughout the years. Having made 319 appearances for the club across all competitions, Walker is Man City’s 23rd most used player in the club’s history. When we couple that with his time at Tottenham, it means that Walker has made 410 appearances in the Premier League, which is the 41st best return for any player in the competition’s history and a record bested by only two active players – Ashley Young (471) and James Milner (637).