Man City manager Pep Guardiola confirms Kyle Walker injury

Share

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Kyle Walker was taken off with an injury in Saturday’s draw with Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Despite his side’s impending Champions League opener with Sevilla and busy schedule, Guardiola opted to keep Walker and Joao Cancelo in their usual full-back roles.

However, with 10 minutes left to go in the contest, 32-year-old Walker signalled that he could not continue and was replaced by Nathan Ake – just back from injury himself.

Speaking to the press after the game, Guardiola confirmed that Walker had suffered an injury of an unspecified nature, but he could not comment on how long the right-back might be out for.

“He had some problems in the first half and in the second and he could not continue. We will see how he is. I didn’t speak to the doctors,” Guardiola explained.

While the severity of Walker’s issue remains unclear, the former Tottenham Hotspur man has emerged as a doubt for Tuesday’s trio to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Walker has remained an integral player for Man City despite the form of Cancelo, who continues to ply his trade on the left-hand side given the form of his compatriot.

Walker boasts a total of six goals and 17 assists in 222 appearances for Guardiola’s side since making the move from Tottenham in 2017, and he won his fourth Premier League title last year.

Guardiola also has Aymeric Laporte (knee) out of contention for the trip to Sevilla, but the City boss will hope to have Kalvin Phillips back in the squad following a shoulder injury.

City will also hope to use Manuel Akanji soon, their deadline day signing from Dortmund who was absent this weekend following the birth of his child.

There will have to be fingers crossed that Walker’s injury is not severe though as the Blues embark on a relentless schedule before the World Cup with games every three days, they start their Champions League campaign in Seville on Tuesday.

Follow Us on Social media:

Read More:
Scroll to Top