Fabrizio Romano: Kyle Walker extends with Manchester City until 2026

Kyle Walker has signed a contract extension with Manchester City until 2026, football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano reported on Sunday.

Before the extension, Walker had only one year left of his deal with City and had good reasons to leave. He didn’t start the UEFA Champions League final against Inter Milan and only played the final few minutes of that game. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich had been seeking to enhance their right-back depth and, thus, eyed on Walker. He had even reached a verbal agreement with Bayern before City offered him a two-year extension.

“It was close,” Walker said on Saturday. “It was close but in football things can happen. Decisions can be made. Things can turn. It wasn’t meant to be. Would I have enjoyed the experience? Of course I would have done. But this club is a great club and you can’t underestimate what this club has done in the last six or seven years. Why should I walk away if I am going to get enough game time that’s right for me?”

“That is all I want. I want to play football I love the game and want to play, whether that’s here, Germany, Italy or Spain, the Championship. I still want to play because to stay at home with the kids would be hard work!” he added.

City had the most successful season in franchise history during the 2022-23 campaign as they won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League titles. Having joined the club from Tottenham Hotspur in July 2017, Walker won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and one Champions League trophy with City.

“Yeah, the extension is coming,” Walker said. “It’s my seventh season here and I feel like one of the old ones – there are still some, Kevin (De Bruyne), John (Stones), Bernardo (Silva) and Eddy (Ederson) from the first couple of seasons when Pep came in.”

“It was about who gave me the most years, it wasn’t like I was going to a worse club because Bayern Munich is a massive club and seeing what Harry is doing there and will do, it wasn’t a step down it was just what gave me the years in my contract to play football at the highest level,” he added.

City should be glad to keep Walker after parting ways with multiple players this summer. One of the main reasons behind their long-time dominance in the Premier League and the treble-winning season was that they always had two top players per position. Such depth ceased to be true in the new season when they have more games to play against tougher opponents. That’s why they will need all the help they can get, including the experience of Walker.