Transfer story
Manchester City are set to sign Kyle Walker for a world-record fee of more than 50 million pounds, according to a report from the Guardian. The deal will overtake the money paid by Paris Saint-Germain for David Luiz a few years ago.
City have been linked with the English right-back for quite some time now and it shouldn’t come as a surprise considering they let go of as many as three full-backs: Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta.
Bonus reading: Tottenham Hotspur midfielder wants to remain in England if he moves this summer
Walker was a pretty established player at Tottenham but he did have a fall-out with manager Mauricio Pochettino towards the end of last season. The 27-year old wasn’t the fittest of players towards the end and saw himself dropped to the bench for Kieran Trippier. That somewhat made his mind up that he needed to leave.
More than 50 million pounds? Gladly…
Yes, losing a quality player like Walker will be a blow, but the club will be getting in excess of 50 million for him, which is a really good deal. Everyone can go home happy, to be honest.
Pochettino has shown his shrewdness in the transfer market – barring maybe the signing of Moussa Sissoko for a club record fee – and don’t doubt him to sign an able replacement for Walker. Even if he doesn’t manage to replace him adequately, someone who can be a good understudy for Trippier would be a sufficient addition.
Tottenham showed the overall quality of their squad in the Premier League but were found lacking the ‘experience’ in the Champions League as the likes of Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen managed to get the better of them.
Pochettino is someone who learns from his mistakes and the Champions League group stage exit is something he’d want to avenge next season.
The European competition showed one thing last time; Spurs’ inability to put the continental teams under pressure. In six games, they conceded just six goals, so it wasn’t a question about their defence underperforming.
The need to add more offensive depth is imperative, and considering the club are building a new stadium, they need as much money as they can from player sales to add that extra bit while making bids for offensive reinforcements.
Though Harry Kane will be raring to go, Spurs need a plan B for the bigger Champions League games, and they can use some of the money they get from the Walker transfer.
All in all, the Spurs fans won’t be too disheartened to see him leave for the money they are getting. If he doesn’t want to stay despite the club finishing second two seasons in a row, they are better off without him, to be honest.
