It's been an interesting summer for Kyle Walker.
The England-right back found himself on the end of a public berating on the pitch on pre-season tour and in the Community Shield win against Liverpool and then the club spent £60million on a 25-year-old to challenge him for his place.
Joao Cancelo, Manchester City's new Portuguese right-back has already been talking about how excited he is about playing at the Etihad for the first time but for now at least he'll have to wait. City's third signing of the summer was an unused substitute for the second time in a row for the clash against Tottenham on Saturday evening and Walker was doing all he could to try and show his manager why he should remain as City's first choice right-back.
It was a performance that was far from perfect as he was out jumped for Tottenham's equaliser in the second half which led to City dropping points in the league for the first time since January.
But it was his improved attacking performance which didn't go unnoticed. In the seventh minute the right-back went on a blistering run into the box to set up Raheem Sterling who saw his effort pushed away by Hugo Lloris in the Spurs net.
The full-back may have thought he had to improve on his offensive duties after the warning sent by his new teammate when he arrived.
“I'm a full-back who is more offensive than defensive, but I'm aware that the defensive side is also important. That is also why I came here, to learn," Cancelo said.
Judging off Walker's second half mistake he still has a few things to learn too but going forward, something Cancelo prides himself on, the 29-year-old did little wrong.
His acceleration and pace caused problems down the right and his positioning, aside from the equaliser, was improved from previous games which meant that for once it wasn't the defender who was on the end of a Guardiola berating.
That instead fell to Sergio Aguero as the Argentine had a disagreement with his manager on the touchline as he was brought off for Gabriel Jesus in the second half.
City's recruitment strategy over the years has paid off. Look at how they've brought in Rodri to replace Fernandinho before the Brazilian has left. It gives the former time to settle into the team before he is expected to be a regular starter.
And the decision to bring in Cancelo appears to already paying off. Healthy competition at right-back could be the answer to pushing Walker to the best of his ability and giving City another added boost down the right hand side.
