Wayne Rooney criticises ‘strange’ Man City transfer decision after Real Madrid defeat
Wayne Rooney criticised Man City’s ‘odd’ transfer decision after their defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League (Amazon Prime Sport) Wayne Rooney has branded Manchester City’s decision to let Kyle Walker leave in January as ‘strange’ following their 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League on. Pep Guardiola’s side now have a mountain to climb in order to reach the Champions League knockout phase after they threw away the lead on two occasions against Madrid on Tuesday night. Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City before Kylian Mbappe equalised for Madrid. Haaland netted from the penalty spot to restore City’s lead, however, Madrid were level through Brahim Diaz in the 86th minute. Jude Bellingham then scored Madrid’s winner in the second minute of injury time. City must now overturn their 3-2 defeat on aggregate at the Bernabeu next Wednesday in order to reach the last 16, where they would play either Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen. Walker, meanwhile, is expected to start in the first leg of AC Milan’s Champions League play-off tie against Feyenoord on Wednesday night after his loan move from City in the January transfer window. Rooney, however, believes City should have blocked Walker’s exit and feels Guardiola was not in a position to allow the England international to leave. ‘I think you see the importance of Kyle Walker over the last seven or eight years for Manchester City,’ Rooney told Amazon Prime. ‘It’s so strange to see Kyle Walker go out on loan to AC Milan. Kyle Walker join AC Milan on loan in the January transfer window (Shutterstock) ‘Akanji’s obviously not a right-back, Rico Lewis is a young player playing in different positions, at this point in the season where Manchester City are struggling, Kyle Walker is the captain of the football club, to allow him to go on loan, for me, is really odd.’ Asked if City should have kept Walker against his will, Rooney replied: ‘Yeah… the player’s under contract and as the captain… there comes a time when players leave the football club. ‘I think at this moment in time and Man City going through this blip they’re going through and Kyle Walker being the captain of the club and the importance of him over the last few years, I think an agreement to say, ‘let’s wait until the summer, help us out’, maybe the league is too far for them to reach now but they’ve still got the Champions League, help them get through the season. ‘I had it with Mourinho [at Manchester United] when I wasn’t playing with Jose Mourinho. I had the same conversation in January and he said to me, ‘stay until the end of the season, I need you to help us in the Europa League’. ‘It was hard for me to take but I respected him for that and we shook hands and I left at the end of the season. I think that would have been the more sensible move for Kyle.’ Jude Bellingham sealed Real Madrid’s comeback win against Man City on Tuesday night (Shutterstock) Meanwhile, former City defender, Gael Clichy, believes Walker’s exit is further proof of how ‘ruthless’ the club is regarding player exits. ‘City is City, my view on it is that on and off the pitch they’ve been a ruthless club,’ Clichy said. ‘Pep, if you don’t train well you don’t play, if you don’t perform well you don’t play, which is ruthless. ‘The club, in a way, since Pep arrived, did the same. They were able to tell Joe Hart, a legend of the club, to move on. Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Kun Aguero… and still bringing young players through. ‘What we saw with Kyle Walker a few months ago he was perhaps a few days away from signing for Bayern Munich. The club kept him, you can see now the position of letting this player, your captain, who brings you perhaps something no other defender in the team is giving you, of course you have moments where it’s right to sell the players, but right now tonight, and those few games we’ve seen altogether… why?’ For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Wayne Rooney has branded Manchester City’s decision to let Kyle Walker leave in January as ‘strange’ following their 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League on.
Pep Guardiola’s side now have a mountain to climb in order to reach the Champions League knockout phase after they threw away the lead on two occasions against Madrid on Tuesday night.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City before Kylian Mbappe equalised for Madrid. Haaland netted from the penalty spot to restore City’s lead, however, Madrid were level through Brahim Diaz in the 86th minute. Jude Bellingham then scored Madrid’s winner in the second minute of injury time.
City must now overturn their 3-2 defeat on aggregate at the Bernabeu next Wednesday in order to reach the last 16, where they would play either Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen.
Walker, meanwhile, is expected to start in the first leg of AC Milan’s Champions League play-off tie against Feyenoord on Wednesday night after his loan move from City in the January transfer window.
Rooney, however, believes City should have blocked Walker’s exit and feels Guardiola was not in a position to allow the England international to leave.
‘I think you see the importance of Kyle Walker over the last seven or eight years for Manchester City,’ Rooney told Amazon Prime.
‘It’s so strange to see Kyle Walker go out on loan to AC Milan.
‘Akanji’s obviously not a right-back, Rico Lewis is a young player playing in different positions, at this point in the season where Manchester City are struggling, Kyle Walker is the captain of the football club, to allow him to go on loan, for me, is really odd.’
Asked if City should have kept Walker against his will, Rooney replied: ‘Yeah… the player’s under contract and as the captain… there comes a time when players leave the football club.
‘I think at this moment in time and Man City going through this blip they’re going through and Kyle Walker being the captain of the club and the importance of him over the last few years, I think an agreement to say, ‘let’s wait until the summer, help us out’, maybe the league is too far for them to reach now but they’ve still got the Champions League, help them get through the season.
‘I had it with Mourinho [at Manchester United] when I wasn’t playing with Jose Mourinho. I had the same conversation in January and he said to me, ‘stay until the end of the season, I need you to help us in the Europa League’.
‘It was hard for me to take but I respected him for that and we shook hands and I left at the end of the season. I think that would have been the more sensible move for Kyle.’
Meanwhile, former City defender, Gael Clichy, believes Walker’s exit is further proof of how ‘ruthless’ the club is regarding player exits.
‘City is City, my view on it is that on and off the pitch they’ve been a ruthless club,’ Clichy said.
‘Pep, if you don’t train well you don’t play, if you don’t perform well you don’t play, which is ruthless.
‘The club, in a way, since Pep arrived, did the same. They were able to tell Joe Hart, a legend of the club, to move on. Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Kun Aguero… and still bringing young players through.
‘What we saw with Kyle Walker a few months ago he was perhaps a few days away from signing for Bayern Munich. The club kept him, you can see now the position of letting this player, your captain, who brings you perhaps something no other defender in the team is giving you, of course you have moments where it’s right to sell the players, but right now tonight, and those few games we’ve seen altogether… why?’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
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