Update: |Kyle Walker is not following same exit path as other Man City stars News

Manchester City star Kyle Walker will miss games with injury in an AC Milan spell that hasn’t gone how he’d hoped.

A difficult season has forced the spotlight onto potential Manchester City mistakes. Who isn’t performing, who shouldn’t be in the team, and who should be but can’t?

There has always been an awful lot of revisionism around the players that the Blues have let go, yet it has never really mattered because they have always won so much. Many called Cole Palmer a costly mistake last season, only for Phil Foden to be named the best player in the league as City made history by becoming the first side in English football to win four consecutive league titles.

Much of the year before that was spent with Pep Guardiola being asked if he regretted selling Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal given the Gunners looked set to steal the title. Funnily enough, that one doesn’t come up so much now.

However, City’s slump this season has made those who have left seem more attractive. As well as Palmer, there is Morgan Rogers now shining at Aston Villa, Liam Delap banging in goals at Ipswich, and Julian Alvarez taking a leading role at Atletico.

None of these players were ever a perfect fit during their time at the Etihad, but that tends to be forgotten when their achievements after leaving look better than what their former teammates are capable of. Just look at United, where Marcus Rashford has managed to make United look even worse by instantly improving at Aston Villa.

It is notable then that there has been so little mention of Kyle Walker since he joined AC Milan in January. It was a huge decision, a club skipper opting to abandon ship in the middle of a storm, and the little Guardiola has said about a player he referred to as ‘our ex-captain’ has made clear his feelings on the matter.

However, things have not gone to plan for Walker. AC Milan were knocked out by Feyenoord in the Champions League play-off round shortly after the defender said it would be a dream to win the competition with the Rossoneri and have slumped to ninth in the league table with seven games to go.

City played two attacking midfielders at full-back for the Manchester derby, yet even Micah Richards didn’t question why Walker wasn’t there to improve the situation. The 34-year-old has swapped one struggling team for another, and hasn’t managed to find his form again.

Elbow surgery will not give him many more chances to impress AC Milan, who have to decide if they want to take up a £4.2m deal in the summer to keep him permanently. As far as City are concerned, while the player refused to close the door on a return to Manchester he simply hasn’t done what other leavers have to make the Blues miss him.

Unless something drastic changes between now and the new season, City have an easy decision to make on Walker.

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