Pep Guardiola has challenged Kyle Walker to prove Gareth Southgate wrong after the England manager left him out of his national squad for the second time this season.
The Manchester City full-back has fallen behind Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kieran Trippier, now at Atletico Madrid, in Southgate’s pecking order ahead of the Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
With Manchester United’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka also in contention, it may be that Walker will not add to the 48 caps he has won for his country.
At the same time, the City manager placed further pressure on Walker by spending £60 million ($74m) in the summer transfer window on young Portuguese defender Joao Cancelo, whom Guardiola believes is now ready to challenge for a regular first-team start.
But Guardiola, whose side host Wolves on Sunday, believes the 29-year-old Walker is currently exhibiting form good enough to win over Southgate and retain his place with the champions.
“Kyle, it is a big challenge for him to show the manager from England how good he is,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“Our life in sports is about the challenge, about duels, targets, and he has one in front of him in every single game to show how good he is to come back into the team.
“He came as an incredible, outstanding player and still is an outstanding player. Physicality, strong, fast, and we try to help him to be better since we were together.”