Chelsea and Bayern Munich have reportedly joined Manchester City in the £40m transfer battle to sign Tottenham defender Kyle Walker this summer.
Speculation has been growing over the past month that Walker may leave Spurs, and the latest suggestions don’t sound too positive from their perspective.
According to The Sun, City were leading the race for the England international, but now both Chelsea and Bayern are ready to rival them with Walker expected to fetch around £40m.
Various factors have led to the 26-year-old being linked with an exit despite a successful stint with Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, including the club’s lack of trophies and inability to increase his wages and compete with what other clubs can offer him.
Combine that with the fact that City, Chelsea and Bayern could all do with strengthening in the right-back position, and it’s no real surprise that this latest report has surfaced.
City will lose Pablo Zabaleta and possibly Bacary Sagna this summer when his deal expires and so Pep Guardiola will need a new long-term right-back. Philippe Lahm is retiring and so Bayern must find a replacement, while Chelsea boss Antonio Conte will likely be looking for reinforcements across the squad to add quality and depth ahead of their return to the Champions League.
All-in-all, it doesn’t look good for Tottenham, even though Kieran Trippier has proven he can step in, with the claim that Walker will be able to push past the £150,000-a-week mark elsewhere, and Pochettino will certainly hope it isn’t a sign of things to come with his other key players this summer with the likes of Danny Rose and Eric Dier also linked with exits, as per the report.
Despite another successful season in many ways, the lack of trophies and financial limitations at Spurs could really prove to be damaging this summer.