Willian says £50m Manchester City player is the toughest player he has ever faced

Willian has said that Kyle Walker is the toughest player he has ever come up against in his career.

In an interview with Premier League Brasil, the Fulham winger also named N’Golo Kante as one of his most challenging opponents.

However, the £50 million (Guardian) man, whom Gary Neville recently crowned as the Premier League’s greatest right-back of all time is often picked by wingers as their hardest-ever opponent.

Willian says Kyle Walker is the toughest opponent he has ever faced in his career

In an interview with DAZN Canada in September last year, Neymar picked the Manchester City defender as a full-back that made life hell for him going forward.

Last month, even Leeds United wideman Jaidon Anthony said the same about the 33-year-old.

Now, Willian has also named Kyle Walker as a right-back whom he found the hardest to go toe-to-toe with.

“I could talk about [N’Golo] Kante, with whom I played [with] for a long time. But, to choose one that I played against for a long time, I’ll go with [Kyle] Walker from Manchester City”, he told Premier League Brasil.

How much Kyle Walker has improved defensively over time does not get enough credit

Kyle Walker would perhaps be chuffed to discover that a winger of the calibre of Willian singled him out as his toughest-ever opponent.

But it seems like the perception around Walker’s defensive prowess is that if not for his one-of-a-kind recovery pace, he would not be as elite as he has been at the back for years.

However, in our view, this is simply a myth.

While Walker’s incredible speed does bail him and his side out on several instances, it is easy to forget that he was perhaps even quicker at Tottenham Hotspur at a younger age.

However, aspects like the Englishman’s positioning, spatial awareness and tackling were simply not up to par, making him suspect defensively at times.

At Manchester City, Kyle Walker has worked on his craft, which has allowed him to even operate as a right-sided centre-half and keep world-class forwards quiet.

Countless players with pace to burn could become legendary full-backs if it was as easy as Walker has made his job look for years on end.