A new documentary series shows the moment Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola told his players he was "incredibly sad" because captain Kyle Walker had asked him to leave the club. In an emotional scene, the Spanish manager also tells the players "you cannot behave" in the way Walker did.
Walker, City's former defender, departed on loan to AC Milan in January 2025 after asking the manager to let him leave in search of a new challenge. The Amazon Prime documentary series following Guardiola's last two years at the club captures the manager addressing his team just days after the defender's departure. "So sad, what happened with Kyle," he says before a home match against Chelsea. "It was so easy for him to come to me and say 'I'm tired'. But you cannot behave like captain the way he did. You cannot, in the most difficult moments of our lives".
Although it is unclear what specific behaviour Guardiola was referring to, one scene captures a discussion between the two following a defeat at Anfield in December 2024, when Walker was responsible for losing the ball to Luis Díaz before the former Liverpool player won a penalty. "Kyle has to know that if you lose the ball it's a goal," Guardiola tells his team in the dressing room afterwards, prompting a furious reaction from Walker, who says: "In every meeting, it's my name". Guardiola responds: "Maybe because you're captain". Walker replies: "OK. You didn't want me as captain".
Walker was selected by his teammates as captain for the 2024-25 season, with four vice-captains: Kevin de Bruyne, Rubén Díaz, Rodri and Bernardo Silva. Shortly before the defeat to Liverpool, Guardiola signed a new contract with City, following four consecutive losses for the first time in his career. Just after the confrontation with Walker, the documentary shows the Spanish manager in tears as he tells his team: "If I'm a problem, then you have to tell me. I didn't stay here just for money or just to be here".
Before heading to Milan, Walker made 316 appearances for City and won six Premier League titles under Guardiola after joining from Tottenham in 2017 for £50 million. However, his final season at the Etihad was plagued by poor results, with City finishing the 2024-25 campaign without trophies, just the second time this has happened since Guardiola joined the club in July 2016.
