Everton have been linked with a potential move for Manchester City's Kyle Walker but the England international got a rough ride from the Italian media during his recent loan spell at AC Milan
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Sport
10:38, 17 Jun 2025
Kyle Walker looks dejected as he walks past the Coppa Italia trophy with his runners-up medal after Bologna's 1-0 win over AC Milan in the 2025 final
Kyle Walker looks dejected as he walks past the Coppa Italia trophy with his runners-up medal after Bologna's 1-0 win over AC Milan in the 2025 final
(Image: Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Unlike his fellow Sheffield lad, Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who was all smiles as he posed for a photograph with Donatella Versace at the city’s iconic fashion week in 2022, Kyle Walker’s time in Milan was not as cheerful. Walker is the latest name being linked with a potential transfer to the Blues with the Telegraph now one of several outlets reporting that he has emerged as a serious target for Everton, stating David Moyes is in the market for a right-back following Ashley Young’s departure from the club at the end of the month, with the 35-year-old among the candidates they are willing to explore.
Despite winning six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, a Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup with Manchester City, Walker – along with another Everton-linked player Jack Grealish – was omitted by Pep Guardiola from his squad that is currently competing in the FIFA Club World Cup tournament in the USA after spending the second half of last season on loan at AC Milan.
Although he played 11 Serie A matches for I Rossoneri and 16 games in total, Walker came under some close scrutiny during his time at the San Siro from the Italian media. As reported by the Daily Mail, Tuttosport lambasted the England international’s time at the club as a disaster, with the harshest line - by far - reading: ‘Failure has the face of Walker.’
READ MORE: Kyle Walker transfer to Everton collapsed after David Moyes snubREAD MORE: Everton star dealt with unusual pitch invader before sending classy message to supporters
They also claimed that all he will be remembered for is his water-spitting prior to matches. Walker famously drinks water before spraying it into the air, which has made for some spectacular photographs but he was berated for imitating ‘his role model’ Triple H – real name Paul Levesque – who apparently used to do a similar water-spitting action while wrestling in the WWE, where he is now chief content officer.
In a reversal of roles, Gazzetta dello Sport picked up on a Daily Mail article about how Walker ‘stunned passengers’ while taking an easyJet flight back to the UK when Milan coach Sergio Conceicao gave his players a couple of days off after a 2-0 win at Venezia on April 27. Their piece stated: “Walker has come under the magnifying glass of the Daily Mail. Also because, as is known, the English press has long been particularly attentive to the movements and private life of the Rossoneri defender.
“In the photos published on the website of the popular British newspaper, Walker is seen on board a Ryanair flight in service from Milan to Manchester. A decidedly low-cost choice for Kyle, who signed autographs and took selfies with the cabin crew on the flight, and was captured while watching an episode of Temptation Island on his tablet.
“An open goal for the English newspaper, which headlined: ‘Walker caught watching popular Netflix show about infidelity, as the English star surprises passengers by taking a Ryanair flight to Manchester to visit wife Annie Kilner during his days off from Milan.’”
Whatever your thoughts about the Daily Mail, at least it’s clear and confident in what it is, whereas sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport seems to take somewhat of a sneering tone towards the approach of the British tabloid press, then rehashes the story anyway.
For his part, Walker seemingly can’t win in these situations as he takes the more economical and green option of travelling with the public rather than hiring a private plane, and by all accounts was cordial with the people he met while on board.
When he first arrived in Milan, La Stampa’s Stefano Scacchi wrote an article headlined: ‘It's Walker's day at Milan, the Rossoneri dressing room has a new leader,’ but in the end, many in Italy were unconvinced as back in Gazzetta dello Sport, as by May, Marco Pasotto was saying that the player: ‘continues not to be at his best.’ Ahead of the Coppa Italia final which Milan would lose 1-0 to Bologna at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico with Walker coming on as a 62nd minute substitute as his side chase the game, Pasotto remarked: “At the end of the month the Englishman will turn 35 and there is no going back to the days of continuous bursts of speed on the wing, but it is still a role that he can – and knows how to – do.
“Just as he is comfortable on the centre-right in a three-man defence, a position he has occupied several times at City. At the moment those territories are governed by Tomori, but it is clear that in view of the Coppa Italia final the coach will also take Kyle into consideration.
“Someone who has lifted a few trophies in his career. A season finale as a protagonist could also clearly define his future: the Englishman arrived on loan with the right to a €5million deal and, after a period in which the redemption seemed already a done deal, another has opened with a little more uncertainty.
“On the part of the club and also of the interested party. The cup and a season finale as a protagonist again would clear everyone's minds.”
There was one act from Walker which impressed sections of the Italian press though and it came in what was a somewhat parochial affair involving a trio of Englishmen. With former Everton midfielder Dele Alli enduring a debut to forget when sent off in second half stoppage time for Como in their 2-1 loss at Milan for a challenge on fellow substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek, just 10 minutes after coming on for what remains his only senior match since February 26, 2023.
The ex-Blues player was initially given a yellow card by referee Maurizio Marchetti but following a VAR check, it was upgraded to a red. Corriere dello Sport described it as “a nice gesture” from Walker and describe how he “put friendship before the result and the tension of the match, trying to defend a former teammate who was recovering from particularly difficult months. Unfortunately for him and Dele Alli, it was not enough to change Marchetti’s decision.”
Explaining his actions, the Yorkshireman said: “I think my heart kicked in. Anyone else, I would have just let them get sent off.
"But with Dele, I know how hard he's worked to get his chance at Como. It's a good club for him to try and revive his career.
“We wanted 10 men, but for the personal relationship that I have with Dele, for the years I've known Dele, for what he's been through – which he's publicly said and I think he's been very strong and open about that – to then get sent off for not really a cynical challenge, he was a little bit hard done by.”