Man City star wants to ‘personally’ inform Guardiola of exit wish; Barca dump £69m signing idea

Man City defender Kyle Walker wants to speak to Pep Guardiola ‘personally’ before Tuesday ahead of a potential move to Bayern Munich, according to reports.

The former Sheffield United defender could be on his way out of the Etihad Stadium this summer with his contract expiring in a year’s time.

With Thomas Tuchel not looking to sign Joao Cancelo on a permanent basis, Walker has emerged as the German’s top transfer option at right-back

And now Sky Germany claim that Bayern’s ‘courtship’ of Walker has now entered the ‘next round’ and that the England international ‘would like to have spoken personally to team manager Pep Guardiola by Tuesday’.

His interest in joining the Bavarians ‘still stands’ and the report adds that Walker ‘would like to sign a contract with Bayern until 2025 with an option for a further year’.

Walker’s potential salary has ‘already been negotiated’ and now Bayern Munich officials ‘want to start negotiations with the Cityzens in the coming week’.

It is expected that ‘a fee of around 15 million euros plus bonus payments’ should seal the deal for Walker but ‘a complete agreement before the start of the Asia trip on July 24 is unlikely’.

One player who could now be staying at Man City this summer is Bernardo Silva with Spanish publication Marca insisting that Catalan giants Barcelona are ready to dump their interest in the Portugal international.

Instead, it is understood that Barcelona have turned their attention to Tottenham midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, who spent last season on loan at Villarreal.

The report highlights Barcelona’s ‘very good relationship’ with Spurs and they hope they can persuade Daniel Levy to sell at a good price with Lo Celso becoming a ‘real option’ for them.

Man City have brought in Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea as their only signing of the transfer window so far and former midfielder Yaya Toure thinks it will be “difficult” for them to win the Premier League title again next term.

Toure told the Daily Mail: “It will be difficult, but City already have the experience of winning the league year after year. The core of the team will also stay the same, they are still young, but they have players with experience and a love of winning games week-in, week-out.”