Despite his best efforts to conceal his annoyance at Kyle Walker's request to leave Manchester City, Pep Guardiola's news conference "implied quite the opposite," according to reports.
Guardiola's shocking announcement that Walker would be leaving the team this month tarnished City's 8-0 FA Cup victory against League Two team Salford.
"It's difficult for me to say because I should tell him, but he's not here," Guardiola remarked.
"Two days ago, Kyle asked to look into his options for playing overseas at the end of his career." He has been our right-back, providing us with something we didn't have, but for a variety of reasons, he is now considering moving abroad to play his last years. I therefore like to play with other players whose minds are here. He visited Txiki. You never know what will happen, so just because he requested to explore doesn't guarantee it would.
Despite the fact that the two clubs have not yet established formal contact, the Telegraph claims that AC Milan is in the lead for his signature and is "confident" of securing his transfer.
That concludes the main points of the narrative, but we know you're eager to learn more about Guardiola's "dramatic gurn" and "micro-sneer," which were picked up by the body language expert hired by Mirror to gauge the City manager's true feelings about the situation.
Judi James remarked, "Guardiola is using two different nonverbal cues here." "Kyle's micro-movements and non-verbal 'leakage' that imply the opposite are in contrast to the rehearsed gestures that appear to indicate that his wish to leave the team is not a huge concern.
The first mention of Walker's name during the press conference is the most dramatic leak. As a result of the 8-0 victory, Guardiola is currently wearing a kind smile.
His face takes on a dramatic gurn when someone asks him why Kyle Walker isn't on the squad. He appears to be enjoying the taste of triumph as his tongue has been curled up within his lips and licking his upper lip. Walker's tongue, however, retracts into his mouth upon the utterance of his name, and his bottom jaw protrudes, exposing his lower row of teeth, which bite upward into his upper lip.
For a brief while, he appears to display inner turmoil or rage at the choice, and his eye-smile disappears.
After a loud sniff and a microsneer with his nostrils, he tuts and looks away for a considerable amount of time to think.
When discussing Walker's "exploration for many reasons," he makes a cut-off gesture with his right palm raised across his face to conceal his expression. "He went to Txiki Begiristain, he didn't speak to me," he says hurriedly, indicating disapproval by pulling his palm down on his nose.
With a series of shoulder shrugs and a head shake, Guardiola attempts to practically dismiss any notion of drama when he does reply. His use of shrugs to intersperse his remarks appears to be a calming strategy. He raises his eyebrows and his friendly face returns as he informs the media, "Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad." However, he also gives a small sneer with his top lip to suggest that he is not thrilled.
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