Manchester City closing on Kyle Walker transfer after meeting Tottenham's asking £50m price

The England full-back is expected to become a City player shortly, after drawn-out negotiations found a breakthrough

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Kyle Walker will undergo a medical at Manchester City on Friday before completing his deal to become the most expensive English player of all time.

Walker travelled up to Manchester on Thursday after City and Tottenham Hotspur finally agreed a fee for him of £50million, with potential add-ons that could see the fee rise to £53m. That brought to an end months of negotiations between the two clubs with Tottenham pleased that City have paid what they see as the going rate for an England international right-back.

City and Spurs have been haggling since the end of the season, with City initially hoping to pay £35m for the player Pep Guardiola had identified as the solution to their right-back problem. But Daniel Levy was insistent that City should play at least as much as the £48.5m they spent on John Stones and far more than the £35m they spent on Ederson. Tottenham believed that the £30m fees for Michael Keane and Jordan Pickford should be taken as context for the Walker fee.

Manchester City were initially reluctant to match Walker’s asking price but were put under increased pressure this week when their alternative right-back Dani Alves decided to leave Juventus for Paris Saint Germain, despite City hoping they had him in the bag.

But with Walker pencilled in to return to pre-season training at Spurs’ base in Enfield this week, and due to fly to the United States with Tottenham next Wednesday, City were under pressure to match Spurs’ price before the start of the summer tours. On Thursday morning they did that and now Walker will be on City’s pre-season tour instead, flying to the US on Monday. Walker could face Tottenham on 29 July, when City and Spurs meet in a friendly at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

Walker’s sale marks the first major departure of the Mauricio Pochettino era, but ultimately he is leaving in part because of a major falling-out with Pochettino during last season.

Walker's move was accelerated after Dani Alves turned City down (Getty Images)

The manager had reservations about his fitness and his performances in training which eventually saw Walker lose his place as first-choice right-back to Kieran Trippier. After Walker told Tottenham that he wanted to leave, he was left on the bench for the FA Cup semi-final and the last ever north London derby at White Hart Lane.

Spurs will now go into the new season with Trippier as first choice right-back but with support from youngster Kyle Walker-Peters. However they do want a new signing and Pochettino is an admirer of Ricardo Pereira, the Porto right-back, who is available if Spurs can match his €25m release clause.