Kyle Walker made AC Milan move ‘to try something different’
By Phil Medlicott, PA
Kyle Walker has said joining AC Milan was an opportunity he could not turn down following his move from Manchester City.
It was announced last Friday that the 34-year-old England right-back had signed for Milan on loan from City for the rest of the season, with an option for the Serie A outfit to make the switch permanent.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the former Milan striker now working as a senior adviser to the club’s ownership and management, Walker said: “I could have stayed in Manchester, I still had a contract there. But I think it comes down to challenges in life.
“Sometimes you find yourself in a little bit of a situation where you think ‘I need to try something different’, and I’ve spoken to many players, many ex-players, who have not moved abroad to a different league, and they said to me ‘I wish I’d experienced it’.
“If I wasn’t going to a big club, I don’t think I would have done it. I think I would have stayed in the Premier League, at Manchester City, and continued my career there.
“But when a club like this comes knocking on the door for you, I think there’s only certain clubs in the world that you can kind of not say no to, and this was the opportunity I wanted.
“When I spoke to Zlatan he made it clear they were excited, they wanted to take me on board and that made me feel secure, that made me feel this is the right decision, that was the gut feeling I had.”
Walker, who City boss Pep Guardiola signed for the club in 2017 and has won a glut of silverware since, including six Premier League titles and the Champions League, made the most recent of his 11 starts this season on December 15.
Guardiola revealed on January 11 that the defender had two days earlier “asked to explore the options to play abroad”.
Walker said: “Obviously things at Manchester City wasn’t going too well and I wasn’t playing enough football. So a reason for me wanting to come and play for this great club was that I hopefully can play a little bit more football than what I was there, and I want to win things.
“When I spoke with Pep it wasn’t a very comfortable conversation because of the respect we both have for each other, from what we’ve achieved at Manchester City. I’d like to think he knows what I bring to the dressing room and the atmosphere I create.”
He added: “At Manchester City it was my family – from the cooks to the cleaner, the kit men, the physios. I would like to think I was liked a lot and I made sure that everyone was blended in together. I just have to try to find the same here.
“I have to learn a lot of names, I need to speak Italian, I’m going to do Italian lessons, but it’s something I’m fully committed to and wanting to learn.
“I’m so hungry, I still have the fire in my belly to go and achieve things, and that’s the main thing, that’s why I really want to come here – I don’t want to just win things in one country, I want to come to another country and also win there as well.”
Ibrahimovic said: “The fact he’s a leader on and off the pitch, this is a characteristic we need. He’s an alpha male in the dressing room and he can give a helping hand when the going gets tough, when things are going well as well.
“But he’s not only very good on the pitch, he’s very strong off the field as well. He can offer a great deal in a number of different areas. We’re talking about a right-back but we also believe he can play as a centre-back.”
Milan, who replaced boss Paulo Fonseca with Sergio Conceicao last month, are currently seventh in Serie A.