Kyle Walker’s Sheffield United return plan already clear amid Man City exit talk

Kyle Walker may have to choose between football and finance if he leaves Manchester City this summer, with a big-money offer reportedly on the table from Saudi Arabia for a player who has made no secret of his desire to return to Sheffield United before the end of his playing career.

According to a report from Talksport Walker, still celebrating writing his name in footballing folklore by helping Manchester City to the treble after winning the Champions League at the weekend, could leave the Etihad this summer.

The 33-year-old has reportedly been unhappy with his playing time last season and started on the bench for City’s Champions League final win over Inter Milan in Istanbul. With the European Championships next summer likely representing Walker’s final chance of adding to his bulging trophy cabinet at international level, Walker will be keen for regular game-time - resurrecting speculation of a fairytale return to Bramall Lane, where he came through the academy ranks before being sold to Tottenham Hotspur in 2009.

Walker currently earns around £160,000 a week and his existing contract expires next summer, with the expectation that he would leave as a free agent at that point. But any interest from the cash-rich Saudi league - where N’Golo Kante is set to earn £86m a year if his move to Al Ittihad goes through - could complicate matters, despite Walker’s previous insistence that he wanted to finish his career at Bramall Lane.

Last season Walker was on BBC punditry duty for United’s FA Cup win over Spurs alongside former Blades boss Chris Wilder, who revealed that he spoke to Walker after every game against City during United’s two years in the Premier League to ask him when he was going to return to Bramall Lane. “I think it’s one on your bucket list, isn’t it?” Wilder asked Walker, who replied coyly: “I wouldn’t mind.”

Walker has previously picked United’s 2009 play-off final against Burnley as the one game in his career he would love to go back and play again, and told the BBC back in 2021 that he will keep “going until my legs don’t want me to go.

“Until they go I’ll keep running,” he added. “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. If I am dropping down and it is becoming a burden, obviously not. But as long as I am still enjoying it, I’ll keep doing it. I love the banter with the lads. There is never one day I think I don’t want to get out of the bed. As soon as that stops, I will stop.”

On the Burnley game, he said previously: “If I could play one game again, knowing what I know now, it would be Sheffield United v Burnley. I grew up in Sheffield, I played for Sheffield United since I was six until I signed for Tottenham at the age of 19 so they have a special place in my heart, like everyone knows. And if I had to go back for one game to rewrite history, it would be that game.”

United would surely welcome a player of Walker’s quality but it would require a significant compromise on his salary for any deal to even be considered. Earlier today United boss Paul Heckingbottom admitted United “probably can’t attract the ready-made Premier League players” because of their limited budget and wage structure, which means an emphasis on finding players with potential and focusing on the loan market this summer.