Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol has claimed that Pep Guardiola made a statement by captaining Kyle Walker in Manchester City’s recent pre-season match against Bayern Munich.
For their second friendly match of the Manchester club’s pre-season tour of Asia, City beat Bayern 2-1 thanks to goals from James McAtee and Aymeric Laporte.
Recent weeks have seen Walker being heavily linked with a move to the German club and has even verbally agreed to join them this summer.
However, after Guardiola said in a recent press conference prior to Wednesday’s match that he wants to keep hold of the 33-year-old, one journalist feels that the Spaniard did something else to showcase how much he values the defender.
Solhekol says Guardiola made Walker statement against Bayern
Speaking on Sky Sports News, Solhekol had this to say when asked if Walker captaining City in midweek had any significance in terms of his current situation at the club.
He said: “I think it’s very significant. I think it’s a statement from Pep Guardiola to the player and also to Bayern Munich to say ‘Kyle Walker is absolutely a key player for me, there’s no way I want to lose him, his experience, his speed, the fact that he can play in a variety of roles across the back.’
“So I think it was very significant he started but also that he was the captain, especially against Bayern Munich.”
Having spent six years at City since arriving from Tottenham Hotspur back in 2017, the Englishman has made 254 appearances for the Citizens across all competitions, winning numerous trophies along the way including five Premier League titles.
With 39 appearances to his name across City’s treble-winning season last term, Walker donned the captain’s armband on several occasions against the likes of Tottenham and Chelsea.
This shows that Guardiola has not been shy when it comes to giving the right-back the privilege of captaining City, suggesting that he does see him as an important figure in the squad and in the dressing room.
In terms of a potential move away, we feel that the club and the manager are right to do all they can to convince the full-back to stay where he is and if that means potentially giving him the armband on a permanent basis, this could be the way to do it.
