Zlatan Ibrahimovic reveals AC Milan’s true stance on Kyle Walker transfer

Kyle Walker wants to leave Manchester City during the January transfer window and AC Milan chief Zlatan Ibrahimovic has given his few on a possible move for the England international

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has admitted that AC Milan are establishing whether a deal for Kyle Walker is possible after the defender told Manchester City he would like to leave the club.

Last weekend, following City’s win over Salford, Pep Guadiola revealed that Walker ‘asked to explore the option to play abroad’. The full-back was left out of his plans for the FA Cup clash with the Catalan coach’s preference being to utilise players focused on the club.

Milan has emerged as a possible destination for the England international, with interest from Saudi Arabia also present. The 34-year-old signed for City from Tottenham in 2017 and has since won every major club honour under Guardiola.

Former Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain striker Ibrahimovic, now an advisor for the Rossoneri, has praised Walker’s quality ahead of a possible move. The Swede has suggested he fits the club’s vision.

He told DAZN : “Everyone knows that Walker is a great player, he did great things at City. When there is someone like him on the market there is a lot of interest. It doesn’t go against our vision because he is strong, he is a leader, he has dominance in the dressing room. Now we are checking if it is possible.”

After initially appearing to concede over his departure, Guardiola appeared to row back on the prospect of Walker’s exit being a guarantee. “The situation is different now, but the transfer window will finish when it finishes and I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Guardiola said.

““I said to Kyle now it’s a question of the market. He is an incredible player, with incredible physicality and when he’s focused he’s unstoppable as a right-back. He’s a top-class player. If he’s fit he can play for one, two, three or four more years as a professional. I’ve never seen a player with these physical conditions in my career.

“If he wants to explore a move away, the club is going to explore, and he has to decide, not me. It’s not my decision. But he has to have an agreement with the club.”

City will be active in the transfer market however. Deals are expected for Omar Marmoush and Abdukodir Khusanov in addition to others and Guardiola has revealed the club have been required to advance their plans due to the side’s form and injuries.

Guardiola explained: “We are going to try to do something right now when we were going to do it in the summer. It has advanced a few months because of the situation. We would not be doing it (buying new players) if our players were fit but today I think we have two central defenders, no more than that, and with our holding midfielders we are struggling.

“The situation means we have to do it sooner rather than later. After eight years together we have so many players who are more than thirty years old and the other reason is the amount of problems we have with players’ availability. It is an absolutely normal process, especially because we’ve spent less than eleven teams in the Premier League in the last five years.

“All the big clubs in the Premier League have done it – and now, because our players are not consistent, we have to add players. We have no other option. We don’t have alternatives.

“If the players were fit we would not go to the market. Absolutely not.”

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