"YOU KEEP SAYING MY NAME!" Walker made Guardiola cry during heated argument as Man City row emerges in explosive new documentary

Pep Guardiola's explosive bust-up with Kyle Walker left him fighting back tears, a new documentary has revealed. The pair had a huge row in the Anfield dressing room that eventually led to Walker's exit.

After losing 2-0 to Liverpool in December 2024, Walker tore into his boss, fuming that he was being singled out for blame. The argument came just days after Guardiola signed a contract extension.

“You keep saying my name, every meeting,” new footage shows Walker venting angrily. “Every f***ing meeting it’s my name.”

When Guardiola suggested Walker’s name came up a lot because he’s a captain, the England international claimed “you didn’t want me to be a captain”. The right-back continued: “I’ve reacted to someone else, I’ve lost the ball, you somehow bring my name into it.”

The row between the pair features in a new four-part Prime Video documentary ‘A Beautiful Obsession’, which provides behind-the-scenes footage from Guardiola’s final two seasons as City manager. And, in response to Walker’s broadside, the Catalan coach struggled to hold it together while delivering an impassioned speech to his players.

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“If I am a problem, you have to tell me,” Guardiola said. "I won’t stay here for the money or just for the fact of staying.

“I extended the contract because I want to be with you, I want to fight in that position. I don’t want you to feel like I’m leaving and running away from you.

“I don’t want to have the feeling that the pieces fall down. And I feel ‘No, I want to help you.’

“But if you feel, captains first and then the other ones, that there is a problem? Tell me.

“It’s not going to change the love I have for all of you. Not one second. But I want to fight. That’s all. I’m sorry.”

Sky's Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle includes at least 215 live Premier League clashes across the 2026/27 season, with more than 1,500 games from the EFL and beyond, plus F1, golf and darts.

Walker played just seven more matches for the club, three of them as captain, before joining AC Milan on loan for the second half of the 2024/25 season.

“Two days ago Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad at the end of his career,” Guardiola said after leaving Walker out of his squad for an FA Cup match against Salford City in January 2025. “And for that reason I prefer to play other players whose mind is here.”

The Treble winner left for good in the summer of 2025 after more than 300 City appearances, joining Burnley. Guardiola ultimately stayed at City until the end of the 2025/26 season, leaving one year before the expiry of his contract.

The manager's departure was officially announced before the final match of the campaign, days after a draw with Bournemouth saw the Manchester club admit defeat in the title race. He left having won six Premier League titles, three FA Cups, five League Cups and one Champions League.

Guardiola hinted he would struggle to return to management after walking away. His final two seasons came against the backdrop of turmoil in his personal life.

He split from wife Cristina Sierra in January 2025, though they have since begun to work towards a reconciliation. And Sierra was at Guardiola’s farewell match with their children, a gesture which he described as “so special to me”.

“It will be difficult to come back, that’s my feeling today,” he said after confirming he would leave. “I need to refresh many things that happened in my personal life and professional [life].

“What I’ve found, I need to find myself a little bit, in different things. Especially sitting and seeing time go by.”

Kevin De Bruyne fought back tears when he came to terms with leaving Manchester City. The Belgian midfielder won six Premier League titles with the club and was a key part of their Treble-winning squad in 2022/23 but his time at the Etihad Stadium came to an abrupt end after manager Pep Guardiola and City chiefs told him he would not be offered a contract extension.

“It’s really hard,” De Bruyne said in Guardiola's new documentary 'A Beautiful Obsession'. “My kids don’t want to go.

“It’s been really stressful days and I’m not making decisions any more based on myself. It’s easy to go to another team and play football. But it’s been a tough time for us as a family.”

De Bruyne joined City from Wolfsburg in August 2015, playing one season under Manuel Pellegrini and nine under Guardiola. He is second on the all-time list of Premier League assist-makers and played his part as City won an unprecedented four league titles in a row under Guardiola.

City’s manager left 12 months later after adding two more trophies, the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in 2026. De Bruyne’s departure came as part of a plan to move towards younger players who can deliver for years to come.

“We are going from a winning team that have been unbelievable [and] we have to create a new one,” City’s then director of football Txiki Begiristain said. “The [players] that made us the winners of everything, now they have to leave and we have to bring new people, new legs, new energy. Because if not, we won’t win.”

City have since spent money on younger talents including Rayan Cherki, who was 21 when he joined as De Bruyne’s successor. Begiristain also made way for a younger sporting director after 13 years, with Hugo Viana taking over.

And, in the first summer without Guardiola, the club broke their transfer record to sign 23-year-old England midfielder Elliot Anderson.

Pep Guardiola ignored Rayan Cherki's red flags to force through his final statement signing. Cherki’s ‘chaotic’ reputation left Manchester City chiefs torn on whether he was the right man to replace Kevin De Bruyne.

Director of football Hugo Viana admitted the star’s off-field reputation set alarm bells ringing. But the playmaker bonded with Guardiola when the manager called him from his Manchester restaurant and the French international hit the ground running after earning the trust of the man he called the “best coach in the world”.

Cherki starred for his country against Spain in the UEFA Nations League just days before signing for City. Guardiola joked that City CEO Ferran Soriano was grumpy because the Lyon-born star added £10million to his price tag with the performance but he insisted on the deal and Cherki joined for £34m in June 2025.

Cherki’s name came up as a potential replacement for De Bruyne when the Belgian left the Etihad Stadium. There were reservations over his mentality but Guardiola was eager to welcome him into the fold.

“The information on Cherki was not so positive,” Viana said. Soriano added: “Everybody knew about his abilities but there was this idea that he was chaotic.”

However, the CEO later told chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak that checks from Viana and former sporting director Txiki Begiristain changed the club’s outlook. “There was one who gave a bad report but [from] when he was very young so they’re getting convinced that maybe his behaviour is just a myth.” Soriano said.

Cherki made an instant impact, scoring in the Club World Cup and adding a goal on his Premier League debut for City. He finished his first season in English football with 10 goals, 15 assists and two trophies - the FA Cup and Carabao Cup - and was one of the final signings of the Guardiola era before the manager left at the end of the 2025/26 campaign.

A Beautiful Obsession launches exclusively on Prime Video in UK & Ireland 19 August 2026