The dominoes are finally falling in the transfer window for Tottenham Hotspur. After being quiet as a mouse up until the last couple of days, Spurs are officially active though in a way that probably none of us wanted to see.
Today, Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed the transfer of right-sided fullback Kyle Walker to Manchester City.
We have reached agreement with @ManCity for the transfer of @kylewalker2. We wish Kyle well for the future. pic.twitter.com/iJU5xvTUaM
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 14, 2017
.@kylewalker2 is a Blue! #welcomekyle to Manchester City!https://t.co/hKgL9z9nL4
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 14, 2017
The reported fee from Matt Law is £50m plus another £3m with incentives. If Kyle hits those incentives, it will mean that he is the most expensive transfer for any defender, breaking the previous record of £50m set by PSG when they bought David Luiz from Chelsea. It will easily shatter the record for a fullback, which was Manchester United’s purchase of Luke Shaw for £33.6m from Southampton.
Walker joined Tottenham Hotspur back in 2009 from Sheffield United. He was loaned back to the Blades and also spent loan spells at Queens Park Rangers and Aston Villa before permanently joining Tottenham’s first team. Officially, he will have made 220 appearances for Spurs across all competitions.
This is bittersweet. Kyle went from being a guy with a ton of pace to one of the best fullbacks in the league, especially under Mauricio Pochettino’s guidance. At 27 years old, Walker still has some good years left in him and this will be his big payday. There’s no word yet on what his wages will be at City, but reports have said that it could be as high as £140k/week. Tottenham will now turn their attention to finding a replacement for the outbound Walker, focusing much of their attention on FC Porto’s Ricardo Pereira.
Godspeed, Kyle1. Thank you for all you did for Tottenham.