Kyle Walker is caught in the grip of a crisis. He has become the on-pitch face of Man City’s struggles

“Kyle Walker never expected this. He didn’t expect to be captain of the Premier League champions at the age of 34. He didn’t expect to be closing in on 100 caps for England. He thought the treadmill would have slowed down by now. He thought the spotlight would have become less intense. If you had invited him to map out his career 10 years ago, or even after Manchester City signed him for £50million in the summer of 2017, he would have guessed he would be back at Sheffield United by now. That was his only real ambition growing up on the Lansdowne Estate in Sheffield, his horizons and dreams stretching little further than Bramall Lane half a mile away. …”
NY Times/The Athletic