Transfers
Manchester City identify former player as potential Kyle Walker replacement – 2024 summer move targeted
Tottenham right-back and former City Football Group man Pedro Porro has reportedly emerged as a candidate to replace Kyle Walker at Manchester City.
City’s 33-year-old captain remained at the Etihad Stadium during the previous summer transfer window, despite intense speculation linking him with a move to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich after the Premier League champions’ Treble success.
Back in August, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola showcased his desire to retain the services of Walker during a Friday night at a city centre restaurant, where the pair dined for two and a half hours at Japanese eatery ‘MUSU’.
“It would’ve been a problem (if Kyle Walker left),” Guardiola said earlier this season. “After Gundo, at the end we could not retain him, and Riyad (Mahrez) in the last moment, we didn’t expect he leaves as well. Losing Bernardo (Silva) and Kyle would have been a big, big problem.”
However, despite the hard work that went into persuading Kyle Walker to commit his future to Manchester City over the course of last summer, it appears as though work is continuing within the Etihad offices to secure a longer-term replacement for the veteran defender.
That is according to the information of Tottenham Hotspur News, who report that the Premier League champions are now interested in a summer move for Pedro Porro as they look to secure a long-term replacement for Kyle Walker.
It is further detailed that Porro and Pep Guardiola’s ‘Spanish link’ could make a move to the Etihad Stadium ‘even more attractive’ for the pair, with sources describing a transfer as “terribly hard” to turn down for the 24-year-old.
Manchester City have already signed Pedro Porro once before, securing the player from fellow City Football Group side Girona on an £11 million deal in the summer of 2019, before immediately loaning the defender to La Liga side Real Valladolid.
In the following summer market, Porro then joined Sporting CP on a two-year loan agreement, with the option of making the move permanent from Manchester City for a transfer fee of €8.5 million – activated in 2022.
Speaking recently on his short-lived spell with the current Premier League champions, Pedro Porro explained, “When you realise you don’t fit or not part of something, you’ve got to get on with it, follow your own path.
“I am very ambitious and showed quite a lot of strength to come through that and to get where I am today by following my own path. It’s cool. I have total respect for Manchester City. It happens in football, I just probably wasn’t in their plans at that time.”
He continued, “When you are a footballer, you have to look for ways out of that situation, whether it’s a move or a loan.”
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