Manchester City fullback Kyle Walker stands by his decision to leave Tottenham last summer.

Walker insists he had to leave for the sake of his career.

He told Sky Sports: "Spurs will always have a place in my heart, they gave me a chance to play Premier League football and I'll be forever indebted to them.

"But it was something I needed to do for myself, the manager told me of his plans for the season and I wanted to be a part of it. Working under Pep Guardiola, a chance like that doesn't come along too often. That's no disrespect to Mauricio Pochettino, but the people that Pep has worked with grow as players.

"Every game I see something and think 'how have you done that?' Playing behind Kevin De Bruyne you wonder what he's seen when he makes a pass and it just comes off but it's not only him, there's a number of special players here. I think that's put us where we are in the league, and coming into the cup final too.

"Tottenham were in a fantastic position when I left, they'd finished second twice, and people might ask why I left then and it was kind of a gamble, but it has paid off now.

"I gambled when I left QPR to go to Aston Villa half-way through the season when we were winning every Championship game, and that paid off. You just get a sense inside you and you have to go."