Kyle Walker has revealed that it was “very tough” to quit Tottenham for Manchester City over the summer.
The right-back became the world’s most expensive defender when he joined Pep Guardiola’s side for a reported fee of £54million.
The England international, 27, made 229 appearances for Spurs during his eight years at the club and was widely regarded as a key member of their vibrant and youthful team that finished second in the Premier League last season.
Walker admitted in an interview with the Times that his diminished status under Mauricio Pochettino in the final months of 2016-17, when he was overlooked in favour of Kieran Trippier, played a key role in his departure.
He said: “I’m not going to sit here and lie and say it wasn’t tough. It was very tough. Having spent eight years there, that club is in my heart.
“Those last few months were difficult, though.
“Not starting against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final or the last North London derby at White Hart Lane or the last game there, against Manchester United, having been there for eight years, that hurt.
“Sometimes I feel like crying when I think about it — that I spent eight years there and I’ll never see that place again. It hurts.
“Once I knew I was allowed to leave Tottenham and that I wasn’t as much in the manager’s plans as I thought I was going to be, there were a number of clubs I could have gone to. But when this opportunity came up, to work with the manager here [Pep Guardiola], I couldn’t turn it down.”
Walker will get the chance to prove himself against his former club when the two sides meet in Manchester in December, while City’s visit to Tottenham comes towards the end of the season in April.
OPINION
Intriguingly, Walker claims one of the reasons he left was that Pochettino told him his place in the side was far from guaranteed. That appears to have been the tipping point in accelerating the right-back’s exit. Walker has settled in well at City, where he has been a regular in the side that has flown out of the starting blocks in the new campaign. It could be said that the right-back has not been missed that much by Spurs, who replaced him with £24million summer signing Serge Aurier, who some fans have claimed is a a younger and even quicker version of speed machine Walker. But there is no evidence yet that Trippier, or the gung-ho Aurier, is better than Sheffield man of steel Walker.