Manchester City opinion: Should the Cityzens extend Walker’s contract?
According to the Sun, Manchester City are looking to award right-back Kyle Walker a new deal that will keep him at the club beyond 2022. The England international has had a lot of success since his £50m move to the Etihad, winning two Premier Leagues, 2 League cups, an FA Cup and a Community Shield.
The 29-year-old has been one of the best full-backs in the league for the last couple of seasons and has been a starter for the English national team as well. He’s still got many years left in the tank and his performances over the last few years deserve a new deal.
Walker had improved massively under Mauricio Pochettino, being deployed to devastating effect in the right-back and right wing-back roles.
Under Pep Guardiola though, he’s been used mostly as an inverted right-back, helping in the build-up play in the middle of the park or out wide to provide defensive cover for Fernandinho, and allow the wingers to stay wide and play to their strengths.
Walker’s biggest asset has always been his pace and acceleration, which allows him to move up and down the flank within seconds, allowing City to play with the high-line that is expected of a Guardiola team.
His game, as mentioned above, was already improving under Mauricio Pochettino but it has gone up a level in terms of his technical ability.
This has meant that he perhaps isn’t bombing forward as much, which is a good sign. Those legs will be catching on in some years and he’ll have to depend on other areas of his game to continue playing at the very highest level.
Walker isn’t perfect by any means, still having lapses of concentration defensively, which have occasionally cost his club and national side a few goals in the past, but his strengths far outweigh his weaknesses.
His is now an experienced professional and Pep Guardiola will need that as he looks to build a team that will no longer be with the likes of Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart.
David Silva won’t be playing as many games due to his age, which leaves Sergio Aguero as one of few older players left in the squad.
Read More Manchester City news, click here: Manchester City latest news
Conclusion
Pep Guardiola will be hoping that he can continue his dominance domestically and become only the fourth manager to win 3 Premier League trophies. He’ll want to make sure his best players stick around.