Manchester City medical staff issued stern warning to Kyle Walker over hamstring injury recovery

Medical staff at Manchester City issued Kyle Walker with firm advice over his aims to speed up recovery from his hamstring injury, it has been reported this week.

The first-choice right-back for Pep Guardiola issued his manager with a substantial blow at arguably the most important time of the season for Manchester City, having sustained an injury blow during England’s most recent international break.

Withdrawing from duties in Gareth Southgate’s side’s 0-1 defeat to Brazil in an international friendly, and bringing an end to his time as Three Lions captain, fears grew over his availability for Manchester City’s crunch clashes at the start of the business end of the season.

Most recently, Walker was absent from Manchester City’s travelling squad that eventually recorded a 3-3 draw with Real Madrid in the quarter-final first-leg of the UEFA Champions League.

However, a new report has revealed that the absence of Walker was not without a firm intention from the player to do everything possible to make himself available for the visit to Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night.

As per the information of MailSport’s Jack Gaughan, writing in his latest edition of the Man City Notebook, Kyle Walker believed he could ‘shrug off’ the hamstring injury picked up on international duty with England.

It is detailed that the Manchester City captain ‘wanted to train’ the day before last week’s 4-1 victory over Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium – a game that saw Phil Foden star with a sensational hat-trick performance.

Amid Walker’s intentions, Manchester City medical staff are said to have advised Kyle Walker that taking part in training was ‘not a wise idea’, before the veteran full-back went on to remain absent for the club’s next three matches.

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City medical professionals will be hoping that Walker can still play an important role in the club’s final matches of the season, with three competitions still very much in the sights of the reigning Treble champions.

In the meantime, Pep Guardiola will have to make do with his current options, that could see the likes of Rico Lewis, John Stones, or Manuel Akanji operate in the right-back role whilst also inverting into the defensive midfield position when in possession.

Lewis operated to those demands with great effect against Crystal Palace in Manchester City’s last Premier League outing, scoring in the process and playing a vital role in the eventual 2-4 win for the English top-flight champions.