Pep Guardiola issues thin-veiled dig at Kyle Walker as new Manchester City captains confirmed | OneFootball

Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola has admitted he ‘didn’t like’ the situation concerning the club’s captaincy during the last campaign, forcing a managerial-first this summer.

Guardiola saw former club captain Kyle Walker seek exile in Italy when the 35-year-old full-back joined AC Milan on loan in January until the end of the 2024-25 season – after losing his spot in the Manchester City starting XI in the closing months of 2024.

Walker is back from Italy and has been told by Manchester City bosses to find a new club as he enters the final 12 months of his contract at the Etihad Stadium, having also been excluded from Guardiola’s FIFA Club World Cup squad.

The England international was named club captain two years ago after Guardiola convinced the Sheffield-born defender to stay and extend his contract when Walker was tempted by a two-year contract offer from Bayern Munich – following Manchester City’s historic treble win.

However, with Walker not in the club’s plans for next season and Kevin De Bruyne joining Napoli as he approached the end of his Manchester City contract, a new club captain will have to be chosen ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

It is understood that the quartet of Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Ruben Dias and Erling Haaland – in no particular order – will make up Manchester City’s captaincy group after the departure of De Bruyne and Walker’s impending exit.

Speaking in a press conference ahead of Manchester City’s Club World Cup opener against Wydad AC in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Guardiola was quizzed on the new group of first-team captains.

“I am the manager, and for the first time in my career, I decided who will be my captains,” Guardiola said. “I didn’t like what happened last season, and I decided this season who will represent the team.”

In what appeared to be a thinly-veiled dig at former captain Kyle Walker – who exited the club midway through the last campaign – Guardiola added: “I decided this season, sometimes I want to be the boss. And this season, I decided to do it.

“So I chose the four captains (Silva, Rodri, Dias and Haaland), and at the end of the tour, this (Club) World Cup, maybe we’ll choose one or two more.”

The potential addition of one or two more captains could see Ilkay Gundogan – former Manchester City club captain – return to the leadership group a year on from returning to the Etihad Stadium after a one-year stint in Barcelona.

Offering a deeper explanation on his choice of four club captains, Pep Guardiola said: “Well, first Erling (Haaland) is so young but has to start to learn what it means to be a captain, because he will be here hopefully many, many years!

“Sooner or later, he will take that position as first one. When you have Bernardo (Silva), Ruben (Dias), Rodri plus (Ilkay) Gundogan – an unbelievable captain in the year of the Treble – he will learn! And especially I took it (the decision) because he’s incredibly respected, an important figure.

“But what’s important for me is I have the feeling thinking about the future of this club, he (Haaland) has to start to learn what it means to be a captain, thinking what is best for the team.

“Captaincy, at the end, is complicated sometimes, but sometimes it’s so simple – you have to put the team, your mates, the club always in front of you – always! All the time! You have to ask all the time, ‘What is best for the team?’. When you decide what is best for the team, you never make a mistake – never, ever. And this what captains have to do.

“And I think Bernardo (Silva) has been an incredible figure, nine years here, no injuries, always in bad moments made a step up, an example on the pitch, and when he has to say something to me as a manager, or the players, he says it because it’s the best for the club.

“And Ruben (Dias), it’s not necessary (to say) what he’s been, Rodri – the same. They are people that I think will guide the new players, because there will be problems in this path, always it happens, but it’s more than fine.

“It’s (to) try to find a solution, what is best for the team, and these three or four players on the pitch, huge personality when everything is going wrong, always they say, ‘Guys, we have to do it. We cannot accept what is going on’, and they make a step up.

“That is the reason why I choose these players.”