Kyle Walker
Kyle Walker

Manchester City sign Tottenham defender Kyle Walker


Kyle Walker is targeting silverware with Manchester City after joining from Tottenham in a deal that has made him one of the most expensive defenders ever.

Press Association Sport understands England international Walker, 27, has cost City an initial £45million, with an additional £5m possibly heading Spurs' way if various add-ons are met.

That basic figure would not eclipse either the £50m Paris St Germain spent on David Luiz in 2014, nor the £47.5m City themselves parted with to land John Stones last summer.

This is despite Walker's agency, Base Soccer, saying on Twitter that their client had commanded "a record fee for a defender and record fee for an English player".

Whatever the eventual sum amounts to, it is a significant outlay for City and once again takes their spending in a summer transfer window under Pep Guardiola beyond the £100m mark.

Walker has been a key figure in a Spurs team that has finished above City in each of the past two seasons, yet he did not win a collective honour in his eight years in the capital, a fact he wants to remedy in his new surroundings.

"With the size of the club, we need to go on and pick up silverware, get trophies left, right and centre, and hopefully that can add to my CV because I haven't won that many things so far in my career," Walker told CityTV.

"Tottenham was a great club, it helped me to get me to where I am now. I've learned a lot, especially under the current manager (Mauricio Pochettino), he's been fantastic with me.

"But sometimes your path isn't there and you have to move on and what a place to come and take a different path. Just win trophies - that's all I'm about and all I want to do.

"Hopefully we win titles, that's what I've come here for; the most important thing is actually winning a title."

The full-back regions were an obvious area of need for City this summer following the departures of Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy at the end of the previous campaign.

City's hierarchy held talks with Guardiola's old Barcelona right-back Dani Alves over a move from Juventus only for the 34-year-old to this week choose to join Paris St Germain instead.

Guardiola's admiration for Walker was long-standing, though, and he called him and Tottenham colleague Danny Rose "the best full-backs in the league" after a draw with Spurs in January.

And a deal for Walker was quickly concluded following confirmation of Alves' PSG switch.

"What a manager to work under," Walker added. "I'm excited, and a little bit nervous, I'm not going to lie.

"It's the next chapter in my career where I can go on and learn. I think I'm at a good age now where I'm probably at the peak of my career and I just want to try and be the best player I can be.

"He's very positive, says I'm going to fit into his style of play really well. The main thing that we've both said is just winning trophies. It's a massive club, a great set of players in the team and we need to go out and win things."

Walker will now head to America with his new colleagues on Monday for City's pre-season tour and he could come up against his old Spurs team-mates in a friendly in Nashville later this month.

His spot in the Tottenham team is expected to be filled by Kieran Trippier, with Pochettino preferring the former Manchester City trainee in certain games towards the end of last season.

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