Pep Guardiola confirms Kyle Walker has asked to leave Man City

Guardiola did not name Walker in his squad for the FA Cup third round victory over Salford City, confirming before the match that it was a tactical decision.

Walker has been off the boil for Man City this season and has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.

City boss Guardiola was asked about interest from the Middle East before the match and did not give anything away with his response.

However, after the 8-0 win over the League Two side owned by six ex-Manchester United players, the Spaniard confirmed that Walker wants to leave this month.

"Two days ago, Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad and end his career," Guardiola said.

"He went to (director of football) Txiki Begiristain. For that reason I prefer to play (players) whose mind is here."

It is not clear where Walker's preference is but a move to the Saudi Pro League should be tempting given the potential money involved.

Now is probably the right time for the England right-back to move on and the Middle East does appear his most likely destination.

The 34-year-old has played 319 times for City since joining from Tottenham for £50million in July 2017.

He has won an outrageous 17 trophies during his time under Guardiola and is currently club captain.

Walker missed City's convincing win over Salford on Saturday, with James McAtee scoring a hat-trick.

Speaking after the win, Guardiola waxed lyrical about the "special player".

"We won finally a game with a good margin, all respect for Salford. It was not easy with the man marking but we were clinical up front and happy with the performance," Pep said.

"I'm so happy for him (McAtee), he's a special player. Scoring a hat-trick is not easy. He started a little bit flat but afterwards he has incredible sense in front of goal. He has the right tempo, he changed the rhythm to score.

"So I'm really happy for him and for Nico O'Reilly, who was playing a position he'd never played before at left-back. We have a lot of problems in that position. We could have played Josko [Gvardiol] or Rico [Lewis] but they need to rest with the amount of games that are coming and that they've played in the past.

"Jeremy [Doku] played really good, so happy for everyone.

"Of course, [McAtee] can play better. He scored three goals but he can play better. First half was not his best but his work ethic, his composure and his rhythm⦠he's a special player.

"He's been at City for a long time, a City supporter and he was one of the biggest talents at the academy from the generation of Jadon Sancho, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Liam Delap. He played with these guys and was the captain of them.

"I'm really, really pleased he's here with us."

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