Micah Richards has highlighted how important one particular Manchester City player is for the team.
The Citizens are on the hunt to regain the three titles they won last season – the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.
At certain stages of the campaign, the Blues have had to deal with the absence of certain players through injuries and suspensions.
Now though, one pundit and former City player has been speaking about how important one specific figure in Pep Guardiola’s squad, who has been out on the sidelines for the past few weeks, is for the team.
Richards says one Man City player is so important
Speaking in a recent episode of The Rest Is Football, Richards had this to say about Kyle Walker, including his absence in City’s recent 3-3 draw against Real Madrid.
He said: “Kyle Walker gets so disrespected in terms of what he gives the team offensively.
“He gets into good positions at times, but Kyle Walker has changed so much in terms of what he wants from the team.
“He is going to get the ball and go inside and stop all threat on the counterattack, on the transition, to allow whoever wants to go inside whether it be [Josko] Gvardiol or John Stones, but against Real Madrid every time it was like nobody wanted to play centre-forward for Real Madrid.
“It was almost like they were both wanting to play on the left and we know how dangerous Vinicius [Junior] can be, but Rodrygo as well, his pace on the counterattack was phenomenal.
“So for Man City to contain that and potentially have [Kevin] De Bruyne and Walker back for the second leg, I think that was a really good result.”
Kyle Walker has been a key figure for City this season
This season has seen the City captain feature in 38 games for the Blues across all competitions, starting all but one of them.
The right-back has been out of action with an injury he picked up whilst playing for England during the previous international break.
With 26 Premier League appearances to his name, the Englishman has racked up the fifth-highest combined total of tackles and interceptions (50) in the City squad, as well as making more progressive carries (65) than any other defender at the club.
In regards to City’s upcoming match against Real in the second-leg Champions League quarter-final tie, the fact that Walker found himself keeping Vinicius quiet in the previous match between the two sides at the Etihad Stadium last season, which was heavily praised by Thierry Henry, it’s safe to say that the full-back’s potential return to action next week could be vital for the Blues.