Kyle Walker once kept goal for Manchester City in the Champions League
With ten minutes left at Atalanta in November 2019 and City's substitute keeper sent off, their right-back pulled on the gloves. Kyle Walker did not concede and even saved a free-kick. It was a sideshow in a career that took a Sheffield boy to six Premier League titles and a Champions League.
Walker was born in Sheffield on 28 May 1990, has Jamaican heritage through his father, and grew up in Sharrow. A coach at the Football Unites, Racism Divides project recommended him to Sheffield United, the club he supported, when he was seven. After nine games on loan at Northampton he broke into United's first team in 2009 and started the Championship play-off final against Burnley, becoming the youngest United player to appear at Wembley.
Tottenham paid £9 million for him and Kyle Naughton together in July 2009, then loaned him back to Sheffield and later to QPR and Aston Villa, where he scored a 30-yard first league goal against Fulham. Settled at Spurs, he hit a derby winner against Arsenal in October 2011 and was voted the PFA's Young Player of the Year in 2012, ahead of Gareth Bale and Sergio Agüero. Under Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs lost the 2015 League Cup final and finished second in 2016–17.
Manchester City signed him in July 2017 for an initial £45 million, rising to £50 million with add-ons. Under Pep Guardiola, who has called him one of the finest full-backs ever, he won six league titles, four League Cups and two FA Cups. When he scored against Sheffield United in his 100th league game for City, he refused to celebrate because he still supports them. His two-legged marking of Vinícius Júnior in the 2023 Champions League semi-final drew wide praise, though he was left on the bench for the final against Inter and came on late as City sealed the treble.
Walker made his England debut in September 2011 and went on to play at the Euros of 2016, 2020 and 2024 and the World Cups of 2018 and 2022. He spent the second half of 2024–25 on loan at AC Milan before joining Burnley permanently in July 2025, the club he had faced in that play-off final 16 years earlier.
Source: Kyle Walker
