Leeds: Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne has come to the rescue of teammate Kyle Walker, saying that the defender is one of the most consistent performers for the club.
De Bruyne’s remark came as former Manchester United star Roy Keane labelled Walker as an “idiot” after he gave away a penalty in City’s recent Premier League clash against Liverpool.
“I think from the moment that Kyle came to the team, he’s been one of the most consistent performers with us. He’s never injured, he plays all the time. He’s reliable, and he’s a really good defender. I think the job that he does is a really good job. Okay, what Roy Keane says, he’s a different man and everybody knows that. But, okay, it’s his opinion and he’ll take it on the chin. He’s going to be fine with it,” Goal.com quoted de Bruyne as saying.
“Obviously when you compare every position it’s different. You can’t compare the work that Kyle does to, for instance, Trent [Alexander-Arnold] at Liverpool. Trent is the more offensive player and Kyle has to play a different role for us, but he does it really well and there’s a reason why he’s playing all these years at this level for all these teams. It means he’s been really good,” he added.
England’s manager Gareth Southgate had also defender Walker after the comments made by Keane. Southgate also said that in his opinion, Keane crossed a line by making such comments about Walker.
“I think he’s playing extremely well. Observations and analysis are fine, I think personal criticism less so, I think we have to be careful about that. I’m very happy with what Walker is doing. He’s playing every game for his club because the manager trusts him and feels he needs him so if he’s doing that for Pep it’s an indication of the quality,” said Southgate.
Walker was not included in England’s match-squad for the Nations League fixture against the Republic of Ireland. England ended up winning that match 3-0.
England will next take on Belgium in the Nations League later today.