AC Milan announced the loan transfer of the English international Kyle Walker a few days ago, with the option to buy five million euros in the summer, according to Sky Sports Italy.
This move represents a huge upgrade for Milan regarding the right-back position since the Italian side has been suffering from lows and highs in the form of the players holding that position.
Captain Davide Calabria and the recently signed Emerson Royal both failed to regularly deliver top performances in Serie A and the UEFA Champions League games.
Even though Emerson Royal succeeded in putting on some convincing performances in some of the games during the first half of this season, he failed to remain consistent with his performances. He did not always add the necessary upgrades in attack and defence.
Likewise, Calabria’s experience in Serie A was not sufficient to convince everyone at Milan, knowing that his performances remain limited in both defence and attack.
That’s why having a world-class right-back like Walker would benefit Milan a lot in the second half of the season, especially in the UEFA Champions League and Serie A.
In addition, Walker's signing comes at the right moment, as Royal got injured recently, and Milan is actually short of choices for the right-back position, with Calabria being the only player for that role before Walker's arrival.
Therefore, Walker will certainly make Milan’s defence more balanced as he will certainly represent an upgrade in attack thanks to his attacking addition.
With Theo Hernández as a left-back and Kyle Walker as a right-back, AC Milan head coach Sérgio Conceição will use these two world-class full-backs to make the team more balanced and more dangerous upfront by exploiting Walker's excellent playmaking traits in the same way he does with Hernández.
At the same time, finding the right defensive balance and knowing when to attack with both full-backs and when to instruct one of them to remain in defence will be the challenge that Conceição should pass in the coming period.
In this tactical analysis scout report, we will explore Walker’s main traits as a right-back, his defensive abilities, playmaking attributes, and what he can add to Milan’s offensive and defensive tactics in the second half of this season.
The analysis will also compare Kyle Walker's playing style versus Davide Calabria since Royal will be absent during the coming period due to injury and, more importantly, because the latter is expected to leave Milanello during this transfer window.
Kyle Walker Vs Davide Calabria
Walker clearly has an advantage over Calabria in terms of player profiles, mainly thanks to being a key player for a long period at a very successful club like Manchester City.
Having contributed extensively to most of the Citizens’ domestic EPL successes and having participated in most, if not all, of Manchester City’s key games in the UEFA Champions League throughout these last years definitely confirms that Walker is among the best in his position.
At the same time, we cannot undermine Calabria’s experience or the fact that he has been very important for Milan on numerous occasions, especially during the difficult periods that the team had to go through.
Nevertheless, in terms of abilities, Kyle Walker's style of play has more speed, is more agile, and can dribble better than Calabia, in addition to being more powerful and solid physically.
However, both players are almost equal in terms of one-on-one defending, as they have proved on numerous occasions and against world-class wingers that they can be very difficult to beat in defensive duels, with a slight advantage for Walker.
The following radar comparison, based on last season’s statistics, shows that Walker is also better in aerial duels, given that he is taller than Calabria.
However, in terms of positioning, Calabria can be considered a more disciplined defender who usually positions himself very well, especially in the defensive phase.
Therefore, a little bit of work will be needed from Conceição in order to adapt Walker’s positioning to the team’s needs since there will certainly be a difference between Pep Guardiola’s tactics at Manchester City and Conceição’s tactics at Milan, especially regarding the right-back’s roles and needed missions per match.
Apart from that aspect, we can confirm that Walker will represent a huge asset to the team in attack.
His passing accuracy is higher than both Calabria's and Royal’s, and more importantly, his key passing, vision, and creativity in the opponent’s half make him a more valuable choice for Milan.
Furthermore, according to the statistics, Calabria’s attempts at goal are higher than Walker's.
Perhaps this is the aspect where Calabia has the advantage over Walker: the Italian right-back often attempts shooting from a distance.
At the same time, Walker resorts to shooting only when he finds himself in very inviting shooting opportunities.
That being said, Calabria’s shooting attempts have rarely resulted in goals in the last few seasons.
Walker’s tactical awareness, pace, dribbling, excellent passing, and strength in defensive duels definitely make him the favourite for the right-back role at Milan.
Kyle Walker Vs Davide Calabria Stats Comparison
Kyle Walker’s Defensive Abilities
With 3.86 interceptions per match, 58.3% aerial duels won, and 62.2% defensive duels won, we can confirm that Walker is among the top right-backs in terms of defensive performances, especially regarding the balance he can add to any back-four or back-three.
His remarkable pace, quick reflexes, and tactical intelligence allow him to anticipate his direct opponent’s next move and execute the necessary action to intercept the ball or prevent the opponent from advancing with it.
The following example taken from the game against Real Madrid highlights Walker’s ability to detect his opponent’s cutting inside action and adapt his defensive action according to what Vinicius Junior tried to do with his excellent oriented ball control.
The picture shows the moment of Vinicius’ oriented control that gives the advantage to the latter and leaves Walker behind.
Despite that, Walker succeeded in disturbing Vinicius and intercepting the ball thanks to a well-timed sliding tackle.
Kyle Walker’s Sliding Tackle & Interception Against Vinícius Júnior
Walker has also proved on numerous occasions that he can beat most left-wingers in one-on-one duels, even when these wingers try to accelerate to surpass Walker.
The best example that highlights Walker’s excellence in this aspect is his duel with Vinicius, when both players ran at full speed.
Vinicius’s acceleration on the left wing is one of the fastest at the moment, yet Walker was able to stop him mainly thanks to his agility and defensive intelligence.
When he saw that Vinicius had the possibility of surpassing him, he intercepted the ball using a sliding tackle.
What counts for Walker as well is that he was capable of timing his tackle well and avoiding touching the player so that he would not fall into the trap of committing mistakes in that dangerous area.
Kyle Walker’s Duel Against Vinícius Júnior
Moreover, he has always been valuable in Guardiola’s high-pressing system since he usually knows how and when to advance and disturb opponents in their own half with a high rate of ball interceptions in this regard.
This makes Walker a player who can be very beneficial in the non-possession phase, whether at the back when defending or when pressing in the opponent’s half.
Kyle Walker’s Playmaking Traits
With an outstanding rate of 80.9% successful passes to the final third and 48.9% successful passes to the penalty box, Walker can be a very useful and effective passer for any team.
He can provide assists through a variety of alternatives, such as crosses from the right-wing thanks to overlaps or early crosses, key passes to the box, penetrations and short passes, and more.
Consistency regarding the quality of crosses will be needed at Milan during the coming period, as it has been lacking lately.
Walker can certainly guarantee it, with players like Morata and Abraham waiting to be at the receiving end of these crosses and exploit them efficiently.
Walker usually succeeds in providing his teammates with the perfect cross to the near post or towards the far post, as shown in the next example.
Kyle Walker’s Assist / Cross
In addition, Walker’s accelerations from behind have always made a difference at Manchester City and with the English national team.
He often times executes his accelerations well and knows how to deal with the ball to provide the needed pass or cross despite running at a high speed.
This certainly makes him among the best offensive right-backs in the world, as not all right-backs succeed in providing an accurate key pass or cross while running at a high speed.
This picture shows one of the many times when Walker’s acceleration provided a solution for Manchester City’s attack, particularly for the winger Riyad Mahrez, who automatically gave him a pass.
This allowed Walker to continue attacking the space and provide a quick short pass assist to Phil Foden.
Kyle Walker’s Movement Without The Ball & Assist
In addition to playmaking, Walker’s penetrations and excellent pace can be exploited in terms of goalscoring, too.
He has been capable of exploiting long passes towards the back of the opposing defences, relying on his pace to be first on the ball and score.
This can be one of several possible attacking plans that involve Walker.
Milan has plenty of good passers, like Tijjani Reijnders, for instance, who can work well with Walker to find the needed chemistry in the playmaking phase.
Conclusion
Kyle Walker will undoubtedly be a great addition to Milan, not just in terms of performance but also in terms of leadership and experience.
The English right-back can only benefit the Rossoneri in all aspects.
The competition with Calabria will surely be essential and healthy for both players and Milan since Calabria will also work harder to deserve more playing time, knowing that Walker cannot play in all games and vice versa.
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