Kyle Walker calls out Man City stars for 'going missing' in his final season

Kyle Walker has accused some of his former Manchester City team-mates of 'going missing' last season as Pep Guardiola's side finally relinquished their Premier League crown with a whimper.

City had made history with four consecutive title wins ahead of the 2024-25 campaign and were heavily fancied to continue their run of domestic dominance. However, Guardiola's side endured a rotten run of form to fall well behind Liverpool and Arsenal at the Premier League summit, with the former going on to win the title.

Walker was the club's captain before effectively calling time on his City career in the January transfer window, where he joined AC Milan on loan. The England star, 35, then cut his ties with City for good with a £5million switch to Burnley.

After swapping the title race for a survival scrap, Walker has been reflecting on his time in Manchester, which earned him six league titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League winners medal.

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Walker was singled out for criticism at times during the end of his City career and eventually fell out of favour after struggling for form. He, however, is of the opinion that several of City's "big players" didn't cover themselves in glory in a rare off-song campaign.

“I wasn’t playing,” Walker told The Telegraph while discussing his final days at The Etihad. “I have the utmost respect for the Manchester City fans. They have been incredible, incredible. We’ve given them fantastic moments and they gave us some fantastic moments – we’re losing 2-0 to [Aston] Villa on the last game of the season [they won 3-2 to dramatically win the title in 2022] and not one person left that stadium because they still believed. True fans who stuck with us through good and bad.

“But I felt, I don’t want to say scapegoat because I don’t want to bring out the violins. But I was the captain and the team wasn’t doing well. There were big players missing in big periods in that season and I felt just like I was getting…not blamed. I won’t say blamed but I felt I was the excuse because I was the captain.”

Walker will bring a wealth of experience to a Burnley side who have been heavily tipped for an instant return to the Championship after winning promotion under Scott Parker last season.

He continued: “I like to feel that the lads know that I might get on them. But I’m getting on them because I want to achieve things. I want to stay in this league and I’m not just here to say ‘OK, we beat relegation’. Let’s set our standards higher than that.

“I’m not the conductor, I’m not the manager. I can bring experience and it’s coming from the heart. It’s coming from a good place. I want to do well with this club. If we can do well and stay in the Premier League, then that’s like a title to me.”

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