AC Milan make decision on permanent deal for Manchester City’s Kyle Walker | OneFootball

Manchester City are now due to welcome back Kyle Walker to the club following his short-term loan agreement with AC Milan, according to reports in Italy.

Walker is out of contract at the Etihad Stadium next summer and moved to Italy midway through the campaign after a disastrous run of results that saw the full-back lose his spot in Pep Guardiola’s starting XI.

The Sheffield-born right back took over the Manchester City armband from Ilkay Gundogan after the latter moved to Barcelona in the summer of 2023 – but two years on from staying put at the Etihad Stadium amid interest from Bayern Munich – Walker has no future at City.

Manchester City have made it clear Walker does not feature in their plans for the 2025-26 campaign and after six months on loan at AC Milan in the Serie A, it remains to be seen what the coming months hold for the 35-year-old.

Matheus Nunes, Rico Lewis and Abdukodir Khusanov have jointly shared the workload at right back since Walker’s mid-season departure but ahead of a major squad revamp at the Etihad Stadium, it remains unclear as to where Walker will end up next term.

Newcastle’s Valentino Livramento and Wolves’ Rayan Ait-Nouri have been shortlisted as Manchester City’s leading candidates to replace Walker, who suffered a horrid drop in form in the fall of 2024 that saw him fall down Guardiola’s pecking order.

A £50 million signing from Tottenham in 2017, Walker has been very successful at Manchester City since joining forces with Guardiola, helping the Blues to six Premier League titles, a maiden UEFA Champions League and a plethora of domestic success.

With 12 months remaining on the right-back’s current deal, Manchester City will only allow a permanent sale for Walker in the coming transfer window as they look to introduce four to five first-team signings ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

According to the information of Calciomercato’s Daniele Longo, AC Milan have now decided not to take up the option to sign Kyle Walker on a permanent agreement, and as such the defender will return to Manchester City from his short-term loan deal.

Milan are suffering from dire financial issues and Walker has not done enough to convince the Italian outfit to meet Manchester City’s asking price to sell the right-back on a permanent basis, a clause that was included in the defender’s loan agreement when he moved at the end of the January transfer window.

Walker is unlikely to be given a reception by the Etihad Stadium faithful in a manner similar to the departing Kevin De Bruyne, which does bring to end what has been an illustrious career at Manchester City for one of the Premier League’s greatest right-backs.

Guardiola is highly unlikely to include Walker in his squad to travel to the United States for the FIFA Club World Cup and the board would be looking to welcome and assess offers in the coming weeks to ensure a sale quickly materialises for them to ramp up their pursuit for a long-term replacement for Walker.