Kyle Walker has been speaking to The Telegraph about his decision to leave Tottenham for Manchester City in 2017.
Interestingly, the England international initially thought he made a mistake when swapping north London for Manchester.
What’s the story?
Well, after one training session during a pre-season trip to Boston, Walker felt he had potentially made an error of judgement.
The right-back – who cost £45m – said: “I’ve told this story to very few people but we were in Boston on my first pre-season. Bear in mind Tottenham had finished above City in the two previous seasons. Anyway, we did a training session and the lads, for whatever reason, weren’t on it and I rang my dad and said: ‘Dad, I don’t know if I’ve made a mistake here’.
“But as soon as it got to the first game of the season, Brighton away, it was like it just clicked, ‘Okay, we’re going on to win the Premier League’. And we destroyed it.”
In our view, that training session must’ve been a very, very poor one if it genuinely made Walker reconsider his decision.
It was obvious to all that the 31-year-old had upgraded in 2017, as he teamed up with Pep Guardiola to win countless pieces of silverware at the Etihad Stadium.
Since making the switch, Walker has won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup and four Carabao Cups, along with the Community Shield on two occasions.
In contrast, Tottenham haven’t won anything.
Tottenham made a mess of replacing Kyle Walker
With the £45m received from Manchester City, Spurs could’ve gone out and bought a top right-back to replace Walker.
Instead, Mauricio Pochettino was happy to entrust Kieran Trippier with the task, using Kyle Walker-Peters as his backup.
Now, both men are shining for Newcastle and Southampton respectively, while Spurs have tested the likes of Serge Aurier, Matt Doherty and Emerson Royal to no avail.
Tottenham have spent well over that £45m fee on right-backs since 2017, and they’re no closer to finding someone capable of replacing Walker.
Hopefully, Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici will have better luck this summer.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
