Manchester United have already signed Man City's ideal Kyle Walker replacement

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Heads were turned on Saturday evening when Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola revealed club captain Kyle Walker had asked to explore the possibility of moving on from the Etihad Stadium to play abroad.

Walker has been linked with a move away from City for around a year now and was said to be close to joining German giants Bayern Munich in the past.

The 34-year-old was not involved with the City squad during Saturday's 8-0 win over Salford City in the FA Cup third round and Guardiola confirmed Walker had asked to leave the club this month.

"It's not easy for me to say because I should tell him but he's not here," said Guardiola. "Two days ago Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad. He asked two years ago after the Treble, Bayern Munich wanted him but the offer was not good enough.

"We cannot understand what the club had over these years without Kyle. It's impossible to imagine what we have done in these years without him. For that reason, I prefer to play other players whose mind is here.

"Maybe I'm wrong but I still am pretty convinced that there's no-one in our job that doesn't want to be where they are who can perform and be exactly what they want to be. He asked to explore, it doesn't mean it's going to happen because you never know the situation.

"I respect a lot because I'm more than grateful since he has been many years for us. His first season here, we started to win, win, win , win, win. He's been important for the national team and important for our team but he said that 'I want to explore, my mind and my heart and I want to explore it'. I don't know what's going to happen."

Italian sides Inter Milan and AC Milan have been linked with the England international full-back, while there is also said to be interest from Saudi Pro League clubs. Guardiola does not want to lose Walker but City have been known not to stand in the way of players who want to explore options elsewhere.

Of course, if Walker leaves then City will have to find a replacement at right-back for him. Rico Lewis has impressed since stepping up to the first team but Guardiola will want competition for the England international.

With that in mind, using Macro Football’s player impact tool, which uses analytics to understand a player’s seasonal impact to see which players in European football's top five leagues are most similar to Walker's characteristics, one very interesting name ranked in the top five of the list.

Manchester United's Noussair Mazraoui has a 95.8% similarity rating to Walker and he would have been the ideal alternative for City. Mazraoui only cost £17million in the summer from Bayern Munich and in an otherwise disappointing season for United, his form has been one of the very few positives.

Given the way the 27-year-old has adapted to life in the Premier League, it seems like it was a cost effective option City have missed given Walker now sees his future elsewhere.

In terms of other players who ranked similar to Walker, his City team-mate Josko Gvardiol ranked in the top five and so did Napoli's 31-year-old Italian international Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

But, given his age, and the fact Napoli are in the midst of a Serie A title battle, a move for Di Lorenzo would seem unlikely this month.

City have already been fairly active this month and have agreed a move for Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov. They are also in talks to sign Brazilian defender Vitor Reis and are keen to sign Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush.

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