Man City would get extra boost from Josko Gvardiol transfer to free up room for more signings

The reported decision of Kyle Walker to leave Manchester City means that the arrival of Josko Gvardiol would be even more important.

Despite the club tabling a contract offer, Walker could be set to call time on his six-year City career having won every title there is to win, opting to join Bayern Munich with a year left on his current deal. With Pep Guardiola seemingly moving towards a first-choice defence without full-backs, Walker may not have played as much next season, and he will also be aware of the upcoming Euro 2024 tournament and the competition for right-back places with England.

If City can replace Walker with Gvardiol, it wouldn't be a like-for-like swap as the Croatian is a centre-back. However, it would strengthen City's options for the four-centre-back approach and Gvardiol is handily 12 years younger than Walker.

His age would also give City a handy bonus for the coming season - should he sign - when they come to submit their Premier League squad, keeping a valuable squad place free for any further signings.

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Walker is one of City's 'homegrown' players in their squad, which currently stands at 20 senior players. Clubs are allowed a maximum of 17 players who don't count as homegrown, with the rest of the squad able to be topped up to a maximum of 25 of players trained in England.

After Mateo Kovacic replaced Ilkay Gundogan and before Walker potentially leaves, City's squad list stands at 13 non-homegrown players and seven homegrown. That number could fall further if Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez leave, with all linked with exits.

Losing Walker would lose a valuable homegrown spot, but City