Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Manchester City captain Kyle Walker has expressed his desire to leave the club this month and pursue opportunities abroad as his career approaches its later stages.Walker, 34, has 18 months remaining on his contract, which he extended in the summer of 2023 with a three-year deal. At that time, Bayern Munich showed interest in signing him, but negotiations with City fell through.

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Recently, Walker has struggled for playing time, with his last start being in the 2-1 loss against Manchester United on December 15. He wasn’t even included in the squad for City’s 8-0 FA Cup victory over Salford City on Saturday, where Matheus Nunes filled in at right-back.Guardiola explained the situation, revealing that Walker has requested a transfer during the January window to play abroad.

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He added that the England international may not currently be in the right mental state to contribute effectively to the team.“Two days ago Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad at the end of his career,” explained Guardiola in his post-match press conference following the Salford win.

asked two years ago after the treble, Bayern wanted him but the offer was not good enough and the club

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asked him how important was this? We cannot understand the success the club has had in these years without Kyle. It's impossible – he's been our right-back, giving us something we didn't have.“But now, in his mind, he would like to explore going to another country to play his last years for many reasons. For that reason, I prefer to play other players whose mind is still here.

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”There is reported interest in Walker from Saudi Arabia and he has now taken matters into his own hands, approaching Man City directly to request a transfer this month.“He went to Txiki [Man City director of football Txiki Begiristain] and I am pretty convinced that there's no one in our job who can perform when they don’t want to be where they are,” Guardiola explained.

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