Tottenham aren’t the also-rans Kyle Walker thinks
By Ryan Wrenn
It took barely a week for Kyle Walker to settle in at Manchester City and feel comfortable enough to criticize Tottenham.
If that seems like a quick turnaround for a player who consistently started for Tottenham for five seasons, you would likely not be alone. What might really stick with is the substance of Walker’s critique.
Before we get to that though, it’s worth acknowledging the very good reasons why Walker and Spurs parted ways.
Unlike so many of his teammates, it appears as if Walker never really bought into Mauricio Pochettino’s ambition and vision for the club. While Hugo Lloris, Danny Rose and Dele Alli — among others — all gladly signed new contracts with the club over the last year, Walker would need to find fulfillment elsewhere.
If we want to be especially cynical, that fulfillment appears to have been found primary in his wallet. With the move to City, Walker’s salary is rumored to have doubled, not to mention whatever cut he might get of the £50 million paid for his services.
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From Spurs’ perspective, it was about gauging the acceptability of loss. There’s no question that Walker will be missed for at least a time, but there is a pricepoint where such pain becomes worth it. For Daniel Levy and Spurs, that price was about £50 million, plus add-ons. They were never going to get that kind of money for Walker a year or two from now, so much as well cash in while the Premier League’s transfer bubble remains unpopped.
With that money Spurs will be able to invest in another right-back, or simply reinforce other areas of the squad. They also offload a decently sized contract, which itself can be redirected to a new player.
That, in sum, is a sufficient enough explanation for Walker’s departure. It is money that makes the world turn.
The ravages of petrodollars, absurdly lucrative TV deals and runaway stadium construction costs have not yet washed away footballer’s obligation to play up glory however. So it was a different line that Walker took when asked by BBC Sport about the reasoning behind his leaving.
"“I am hoping with the world-class players we have here that we will go and lift a trophy, which is what I want to do in my career.“Sometimes [Spurs] were unlucky. Sometimes we just didn’t have that little bit of edge.”"
It’s not the fact that his salary was doubled, you see. It was City’s gleaming silverware cabinet, the one with space for so many more trophies of all shapes and sizes.
While surely Walker, like every player out there, does yearn for a chance to win titles, it’s unfair to claim that Tottenham lack the desire — or even the ability — to earn the same.
The facts of the matter are that, for two seasons running, Spurs got closer to the Premier League title than City. It’s hard to imagine that Walker would forget so quickly just how close Tottenham came to catching up with a Chelsea team unburdened by injury or midweek matches in Europe.
Such willful ignorance doesn’t do anything for his reputation with Spurs fans, and such callousness should concern his new fans at City.
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It might just be that City and Pep Guardiola are crafting a team that will win the title next season. Walker and the rest of them are going to have to fight through Tottenham to get there though, and might just be reminded that splashing hundreds of millions of pounds on new players isn’t always the “edge” a team needs.