It did look for a while that Kyle Walker was off. Another senior member of Manchester City’s Treble winners who had completed the job and fancied trying something new.
Bayern Munich had been pushing for a while, in conjunction with their pursuit of Harry Kane and the two England stars had spoken about the prospect of joining forces in Bavaria. Kane went, Walker didn’t, but City were perilously close to losing a man who now leads them as captain in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne.
An unlikely captain, in many ways; the armband never felt like his calling.