Kyle Walker will only leave Manchester City this month if he can secure a move to a major European club.
The right-back has expressed a desire to leave the Etihad after eight years, but is not seeking a big pay day in the Middle East and is keen to pick his next club carefully. Walker has already been linked with a move to Italy with AC Milan among those keen.
The 34-year-old wants to remain playing at a top club with his England ambitions central to his thought process. Walker is determined to be part of the Thomas Tuchel era and has a huge desire to eventually win his 100th cap - currently he sits on 93.
Walker knows playing for a major outfit, ideally one in the Champions League, will aid his ambitions and City are immensely supportive of his next move with his minutes currently on the decline under Pep Guardiola.
Walker's form has dropped off this term but Sky Sports understand that the player himself is confident he has at least two more years playing at his peak. In recent years he has been an integral part of the success on the blue half of Manchester.
Guardiola was coy when quizzed on whether Walker, who was left out of the matchday squad that drew at Brentford on Tuesday night, would play for City again amid the constant talk of him leaving the club.
He said: “I don’t know. It depends on how we are going to train (players perform in training). It depends on him. The transfer window will finish when it finishes (at the end of the month) and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I said to him: ‘Now it’s a question of the market.’”
The City boss has backed Walker to continue operating at the highest level and believes he has another four years. “He is an incredible player with incredible physicality,” he added. “When he is focused he is unstoppable as a right-back. He’s a top class player, if he is fit, he can play one, two, three or four more years as a professional. I never saw a player with these physical conditions in my career. [But] if he wants to explore [options], he has to decide, not me. It’s not my decision.”
City have been tipped to move on a number of their stalwarts this summer with their ageing squad beginning to catch up with them. Guardola's side have endured a huge drop off and the likes of Ederson and Ilkay Gundogan have been linked with moves away - as has Kevin De Bruyne.