Kyle Walker: Ex-Sheffield United defender's rise to fame and fortune at Manchester City

The footballer’s finances hit the headlines recently after a bitter hearing over the financial arrangements for their one-year-old daughter, Kinara.

The dispute centred on the amount of money Walker should pay to support the little girl. He also has a son, Kairo, with Goodman, and four children with his wife Annie Kilner.

Reporting restrictions around the hearing were lifted this week and it emerged that Walker, reproted to be worth £27m, had already paid £2.4m for a family home for Lauren and their two children before this latest hearing.

He was also paying £8,000 each month for their son, Kairo but his ex had wanted £14,750 for both youngsters.

The court ordered him to pay £12,500 but turned down some of Lauren’s requests, such as £31,000 for a football pitch, a car worth upto £70,000 every three years and air conditioning costing £33,000.

Walker said the case would not have gone that far if he had been a painter and decorator.

Lauren was accused of having treated Walker like an 'open-ended chequebook'.

Who is the England and Man City player?

Walker was just a seven-year-old Sheffield schoolboy when he was scouted for Sheffield United’s academy. Now at age 34, he plays among some of the world’s most famous footballers at Man City, such as Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden.

He is reported to earn £160,000 a week and lives in a £3.5 Cheshire mansion.

Walker, who is married to childhood sweetheart Annie Kilner, grew up on the Lansdowne estate in Sharrow, a stone’s throw from Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane stadium. The former Porter Croft Infant & Junior school pupil would spend hours each day practising his football trade at Mount Pleasant Park, off Abbeydale Road, with the support of his doting parents.

He has previously said he owes his success to his parents, Tracey and Michael Walker. He said: “It's mainly down to my mum and dad for supporting me and showing me that they believe in me and I can go and achieve what I want to achieve.”

After leaving High Storrs School in 2006, where his signed England shirt is placed on the wall, Walker would soon become the youngest player in Blades’ history to appear at Wembley when he played in the 2008/09 Championship play-off final defeat to Burnley.

That summer saw him sold with teammate Kyle Naughton to Tottenham Hotspur, where Walker thrived. His pace and endurance saw him make more than 200 appearances for Spurs over his eight years with the club, earning 27 England caps in that time.

In 2017, Walker earned a £50m move to Manchester City where he became a multiple time Premier League champion. He has become further renowned as an outstanding fast full back with more than 230 appearances.

In his career he has won one Champions League title, six Premier League titles amndfour EFL Cup trophies whilst at City. He also featured for England at Euro 2016, 2020 and 2024 and also played in the 2018 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

In 2020, Walker, a dad of four, joined Puma Football after ending his sponsorship deal with Nike Football, and in 2021 helped to create a new kit with suicide prevention charity, Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). Speaking out on the campaign he said playing football has helped his mental health “because football is about being part of something”.

With the average retirement age of footballers standing at just 35-year-old, Walker has dropped several hints that he’d like to return to the Blades before he hangs his boots up. In 2021 he said on the BBC’s Friday Football Social podcast: “I made it very clear I want to go back and play for Sheffield United. I started there, played there from when I was six or seven years old.”

He added that he’ll continue playing until his “legs don’t want to go”.