How Kyle Walker and Burnley can make unlikely marriage a success | OneFootball

It was, Kyle Walker said, “an opportunity I jumped at”. Two years ago, the scramble for his services was between Manchester City and Bayern Munich, a contest that meant a 33-year-old got a three-year deal. And so, had everything gone to either of his plans, he would now be planning for a final season at either the Etihad Stadium or the Allianz Arena.

Instead, the opportunity he grasped was to go to Burnley. One interpretation is to say that it is a sign of how far and how fast the mighty have fallen: a year ago, Walker played in the final of Euro 2024 and was (somehow) named in the team of the tournament. This season, he may have thought, would have ended with him captaining City to the Premier League or Champions League titles; perhaps even the Club World Cup.

Rather than the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, however, Walker is at the homelier confines of Turf Moor. He was not even named in the City squad that Pep Guardiola took to the United States.

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Kyle Walker’s decline has been sharp and steep (Getty)

And yet Burnley have distinctions the current City cannot boast. In 2017-18, Walker played in a City side who were centurions. Last year, Burnley got 100 points, albeit at a lower level. While City had their worst defensive record in 15 years, Burnley registered the best in the history of the Football League. Scott Parker’s side were breached a mere 16 times in 46 games, and never twice in a match, while keeping 30 clean sheets. For Walker, arguably the Premier League’s greatest right-back, the initial task is to displace Connor Roberts, part of the Championship’s most frugal back four.

For Burnley, it would have been inconceivable to sign Walker a year ago; or, indeed, six months ago, when he went to AC Milan on loan. There may be a bit of reflected glory in their new-found ability to recruit a man with six Premier League titles and who has won two different trebles.

There may also be an attempt to learn a lesson from their own history. In Burnley’s last Premier League season, they conceded 11 goals in their first three games and 20 in their opening seven at Turf Moor. A side lacking in Premier League pedigree were invariably described as naive. Enter a man with 410 Premier League appearances, spread over 16 seasons, to add knowhow.

If Burnley’s recent managerial appointments have consisted of Walker’s former teammates, Scott Parker is a more pragmatic successor to Vincent Kompany. But if Parker has already seen his iron defence broken up, with CJ Egan-Riley joining Marseille while Newcastle court goalkeeper James Trafford, a reunion with Walker, a dozen years after they last played together for Tottenham, risks looking overly nostalgic.

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Burnley manager Scott Parker has signed one of his former Tottenham teammates (PA)

Walker’s most recent match was his 96th England cap and a traumatic affair. Thomas Tuchel generously argued his wretched display against Senegal in June was attributable to a lack of rhythm.

Perhaps. But if that is the official explanation then many a Walker performance in the last year must have stemmed from a shortage of rhythm. And, in fairness, he did play when not fully fit in City’s awful autumn. Yet it is remarkable that, in his last seven starts, City lost six times and drew the other one. They conceded as many goals in those seven matches as Burnley did in the entire, 46-game Championship campaign.

For a decade and a half, Walker did everything at breakneck pace. Then time overtook him quickly. You’ll never beat Kyle Walker? The years did, eventually, the age-defying speed deserting him; a man who had won epic duels with Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe was passed by lesser forwards. Guardiola had thanked Walker’s parents for his genes. He had said he would still be quick at 60; but not, it now appears, at 35.

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Walker (left) used to be a match even for Kylian Mbappe (AFP/Getty)

It presents a challenge for Walker: can he reinvent himself without his super power? The man who prided himself on his pace on the Fifa computer game was so fast his positioning never needed to be perfect. Now it does; now he does not have the insurance policy of always being able to accelerate past anyone.

Yet it may help that Parker’s defensive line will be positioned rather deeper than Guardiola’s. There will be less space behind him, fewer times he is found in the final third. The job description is changing. Walker will have to if, with a two-year deal, he will still be playing in the Premier League at 37. And 35 was when Gary Neville, the Premier League’s other greatest right-back, was in terminal decline.

Walker may need a shift in attitude, too. He was accustomed to winning at City; a losing spell brought a request to sit out games so he could explore the possibility of a move abroad. Now he is back in England, under 30 miles from Manchester, in a team who will probably lose more than they will win.

The sense Guardiola was disappointed in Walker was apparent when there was no way back after his time in Milan, when he took back control of the captaincy, decided it should not be a democratic process and bestowed the armband on Bernardo Silva. Walker had been voted skipper, seemingly in part just because he canvassed for the job more than Kevin De Bruyne.

Guardiola gave up on the player, too. He sold Walker to leave City without a specialist right-back. In itself, that was an indictment. But Walker has confounded his critics before. “Everyone writes me off,” he claimed in 2022. Now their number may include Pep Guardiola. The chances are that many will dismiss Burnley’s chances, too. They could be two write-offs together, looking for an uplifting final chapter to Walker’s career.