Manchester City captain Kyle Walker has revealed that he rarely watched football before joining Manchester City in 2017.
The full-back was signed by Pep Guardiola seven summers ago after eight years in North London with Tottenham which was sprinkled with loan spells at Sheffield United, Queens Park Rangers, and Aston Villa.
Now 34 years old, Walker has won almost everything there is to win at Manchester City, playing a key role in City reigning supreme in six of the last seven Premier League campaigns.
The tutelage of Guardiola seems to have rubbed off on Walker, and he watches back his clips, sees where he can improve, and watches the sport on a regular basis.
However, things were not always this way for Walker. Speaking on his new podcast, You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker, he said: ‘I have probably watched more football over the last two years than what I did earlier. Before, I wouldn’t have watched football.
Kyle Walker won his sixth Premier League title with Man City this season, his first as captain
Walker, 34, burst onto the scene at Tottenham but did not have the same outlook on the sport as he does now
Everything changed for the full-back when he arrived at City in the summer of 2017
‘Before coming to [Manchester] City, I just played football for playing football. I didn’t think “I could be better in this or I could do better in that, or maybe my defending was great there”. I didn’t look back on clips or anything like that.’
After being loaned out a number of times at the start of his Spurs career, Walker made his name at Tottenham in 2012 when he was awarded he PFA Young Player of the Year, beating out his future teammate, Sergio Aguero, to the award.
As the years went on, Walker only improved, and he certainly had a coming of age when swapped the capital for Manchester in the summer of 2017.
While at Tottenham in his younger years, Walker did not have the same outlook on life, or his career, as he does now.
‘One million per cent [I learn more now]. I was just playing football [back] then. Being a 20 to 21-year-old in London at the time, you don’t think playing the best football, winning the Young Player of the Year.
‘You had night clubs open every day of the week. I’d just go and enjoy my life.’
Walker is not the only footballer to have shared that watching football was not for them when they were younger, his former England compatriot, Ben White, had similar feelings.
In an interview with Sky Sports in 2021, the Arsenal defender disclosed that he was not a fan of the game growing up, however, unlike Walker, his attitude hasn’t changed.
‘No I never watched football when I was younger, still don’t now,’ he told Sky Sports, three years ago.
‘I just loved the game, I was always playing it – never watching it. So I don’t know too much about older generations.
Walker won the PFA Young Player of the Year while at Spurs in 2012 andwouyld ‘just go and enjoy’ his life during this period
Arsenal defender, Ben White, is another professional player who has admitted they do not watch football outside of playing the game
The interview was conducted prior to a fixture with fellow London side, Crystal Palace, who were managed by former Arsenal legend, Patrick Viera, at the time.
When asked about Viera, White doubled down on his stance, he continued: ‘I know [Vieira] was a very good player, but I wouldn’t know the details.
‘I’m quite busy, I’m always doing something. I watch myself for analytical reasons. I watch England, maybe. I just wouldn’t just sit down and watch a game.’