Real life of Man City's Kyle Walker - love scandal, 'idiot choices', Pep Guardiola trust

Manchester City captain Kyle Walker will be representing England this summer as he aims to help the Three Lions win the European Championship for the first time in their history.

Walker's campaign will begin in Gelsenkirchen tonight when the Three Lions face Serbia. It has been quite the journey both on and off the field for the 34-year-old who is now a senior player in both his domestic and international squads.

The City man's career began in Sheffield where he was born in May 1990. He joined his local club Sheffield United as a youth player and it was while on the books at Bramall Lane that he met his partner Annie Kilner.

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On the pitch, Walker was moving from strength to strength and had made his full professional debut for the Blades in the FA Cup against Leyton Orient in January 2009. It did not take long for his potential to be spotted by those higher in the football pyramid and he would leave the club for Tottenham Hotspur that same year.

After being sent back to Sheffield United for half the season and spending time with QPR and Aston Villa on loan, Walker would settle at Spurs in the 2011/12 season. He made his debut for England in November 2011 with Fabio Capello the first coach to call him up to the squad.

With his performances for the north London club catching the eye of City and the draw of moving closer to home too much to resist, Walker pushed for an exit in the 2016/17 season. This was slammed by then-manager Mauricio Pochettino who accused the full-back of 'disrespecting' his teammates by pushing for an exit.

Walker admitted these comments 'hurt' at the time but in July 2017 he managed to get his dream move to play under Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium. Sadly, two years after his move to City, Walker was in hot water off the pitch.

Ex On The Beach star Laura Brown claimed she'd had an affair with Walker which led to him and Kilner splitting up in April 2019. The pair managed to resurrect their relationship but by July of that year, it emerged the defender had a brief fling with model Lauryn Goodman, who was pregnant with his child. Again, Walker and Kilner fought for their relationship and married in November 2021.

By this point, the full-back was racking up trophies with the Blues and had established himself among the leadership group in the squad.

In August 2023, Walker hit the headlines again as Goodman announced she was pregnant with a second child, whose father was an unknown footballer with the initials KW. This was at the same time that the 34-year-old had been named captain of City after the departure of Ilkay Gundogan.

By January of this year, Goodman had revealed to The Sun that Walker was the father of her second child and that he had allegedly been seeing her since marrying Kilner. This speculation came to a head in April 2024 when Walker spoke to The Sun on Sunday about the 'idiot choices' he had made.

"What I've done is horrible and I take full responsibility. I made idiot choices and idiot decisions," he explained in a teary interview.

"I can't begin to think or imagine what Annie is going through. I've tried to ask her but there’s pain and hurt. The man that’s meant to love, care and be there for her, did this."

His actions away from the pitch led to Guardiola being questioned on whether Walker would remain the skipper of City. The Catalonian was adamant he would and that the decision to replace him would not be his call because it is a player vote that decides the captaincy.

Guardiola also refused to comment on Walker's personal life. As of April 2024, the defender and Kilner had separated with the City man reportedly living in a penthouse in Manchester city centre. But in May, it came to light that the duo had gone to a party at Wayne Rooney's mansion together but sources told The Sun that there was tension albeit they and their family had a good day.

Away from the love drama, Walker has been attempting to give back to his home city. In September, his new academy for those aged 16 to 19 will be launched.

Discussing the KW2 Academy on BBC Radio Sheffield, Walker said: "I wanted to give back, especially to this city and to children that think their dream is over. I have made it very clear what this place means to me - it's a place where I started it, what gave me the opportunity and put me on the map."

Recently, Walker and Kilner welcomed their fourth child, Rezon, but it is unclear whether the couple are officially back together or not. Earlier this month, the Daily Mail claimed that Kilner would not be flying out to Germany this summer to support the defender as she is not interested in playing 'happy families' at the tournament.

On the pitch, Gareth Southgate is likely to include Walker in his starting line-up. He did split opinion among City fans, though, when he claimed he was not surprised that his City teammate Jack Grealish was left out of the England squad due to his club form and admitted that the former Aston Villa man would feel the same.