Wayne Rooney slams ‘strange’ decision by Man City to let Kyle Walker join AC Milan on loan after Real Madrid horror show
WAYNE ROONEY has questioned Manchester City’s “strange” decision to let Kyle Walker join AC Milan on loan mid-season.
The reigning Premier League champions suffered a 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday, putting them on the verge of a Champions League exit.
Erling Haaland fired his team into the lead before Kylian Mbappe equalised after half-time.
Haaland then thought he’d won the match from the penalty spot in the 80th minute, but two late goals from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham sealed the win for Los Blancos.
Man City experienced some defensive weaknesses during the second half, prompting Rooney to question why Pep Guardiola let Walker leave mid-season.
Walker joined AC Milan on loan until the end of the season last month.
The full-back had previously informed Guardiola that he wanted to leave Manchester – despite being City’s captain.
But Rooney believes the club made the wrong decision by allowing him to move on when he did.
Speaking on his Amazon Prime debut, Rooney said: “I think you see the importance of Kyle Walker over the last seven or eight years for Manchester City.
“It’s so strange to see Kyle Walker go out on loan to AC Milan.
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“Akanji’s obviously not a right-back, Rico Lewis is a young player playing in different positions, at this point in the season where Manchester City are struggling, Kyle Walker is the captain of the football club, to allow him to go on loan, for me, is really odd.”
Walker will have one year remaining on his Man City contract when he returns to the Etihad.
However, he will likely seek a permanent move away in the summer.
Reflecting on the defeat to Real Madrid, City boss Guardiola said: “It’s the fourth time we played in a row against Madrid here and in the three previous we were much, much better than them but today was tight and in certain times they had chances and Ederson was our best player.
“Sometimes it happens that a team is better and the result doesn’t work.”