Manchester City’s successor to Ilkay Gundogan as club captain has finally been confirmed for this season
Kyle Walker has been confirmed as Manchester City captain following Kevin De Bruyne’s return from injury.
City players nominate five members of the squad at the beginning of each season to form a leadership group, and this year there was a vacancy for the top spot following Ilkay Gundogan’s departure for Barcelona in the summer transfer window. Walker and De Bruyne were named among the five, along with Rodri, Ruben Dias, and for the first time Bernardo Silva.
De Bruyne took the armband for the opening match of the Premier League season at Burnley before the vote after Walker had worn it in pre-season, but the Belgian suffered an injury at Turf Moor that ruled him out for five months. He returned off the bench against Huddersfield in the 5-0 FA Cup win and created an assist for Jeremy Doku for the fifth goal, and will serve as deputy to Walker.
That means that De Bruyne has now been No.2 under three different City captains, having been vice-captain under Fernandinho for a season and then Ilkay Gundogan last year. It also completes a significant turnaround for Walker, who came close to joining Bayern Munich in summer but instead signed a contract extension at the Etihad and was voted in as the new skipper by his teammates.
City’s right-back defended himself last month against criticism that he had seen from fans, insisting that he used the comments as extra motivation. “I’m always going to get heat,” he said.
“If I’m not doing something right I’m always going to get scrutinised. That’s been my whole career but it gives me the fire to keep going. You do see it and I’ve had a lot of criticism from the fans about me being captain and that it’s all my fault.
“We’re a team, we’re in a team game. I feel being one of the most experienced players and the captain, I’m going to have to take that burden. It’s something I’m going to have to carry on my shoulders.”