Journalist Jamie Jackson has shared his thoughts on Pep Guardiola’s recent comments about Kyle Walker and his potential exit from the club.
With the Englishman being heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich in recent weeks, the City boss said in a recent press conference prior to their pre-season match against the German club that they will fight to keep hold of the full-back and that the quality he possesses is not easy to replace.
Now, one journalist has shared his views on what the Spaniard has said about the exit-linked defender.
Journalist dissects Guardiola’s comments on Walker
Speaking on talkSPORT, Jackson said this about Walker and Guardiola’s recent comments on him.
He said: “It’s interesting that Guardiola came out so strongly saying I’ll fight to keep Kyle Walker because he basically lost his place towards the end of the season, got back in, didn’t start the Champions League final.
“He hasn’t said this but I’m pretty sure what he means by when he says Kyle Walker has got a quality that’s difficult to find, he means his ridiculous pace because the amount of times he has rescued City, not that City are necessarily always being overrun because they’re so good going forward but that is interesting.”
Since arriving at the Etihad Stadium back in 2017 from Tottenham Hotspur in a deal worth £50m, the England international has made 254 appearances for City across all competitions, chipping in with six goals and 18 assists in the process.
In terms of his pace, which Jackson claimed Guardiola meant as being his main quality, the 33-year-old has been hailed for this part of his game previously.
One recent example of this came after Walker put in an impressive defensive display against Vinicius Junior in City’s 4-0 win over Real Madrid at the Etihad in the semi-finals of the Champions League, which led to Thierry Henry claiming that attackers may as well give up running if they have Walker chasing after them.
Given how much of an important game this was for Guardiola’s side last season, it’s safe to say that the right-back is a very useful figure for them and would be a blow if he were to leave.
