For a club that turns 130 this year, it says something that 2023 was – by some distance – the best year in Manchester City’s history.

A record haul of five trophies was accrued as Pep Guardiola’s team set about conquering first England, then Europe and, finally, the world.

“It’s incredible when you look back on it all,” Kyle Walker told FIFA last week. “You pinch yourself a little bit when you think about what we achieved as a collective.

“It was fantastic – something we can look back on for many, many years to come. And not just to do it, but the way we did it, playing really good football.”

That swashbuckling City approach was again in evidence last month, when the FIFA Club World Cup™ – described by Walker as “the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle” – was secured in style with an emphatic 4-0 win over Fluminense.

For the England defender, it was an especially significant moment as he had the honour of lifting the trophy, having taken on the armband from Ilkay Gundogan, the club’s departed UEFA Champions League-winning captain.

He said: “Once we won the Champions League, we knew we just had to tick a couple more off the list. One was the [UEFA] Super Cup, and once we did that the Club World Cup was the one thing we had left to win.

“The lads are buzzing because of that badge that you get on the shirt. I think that shows to the teams we’re playing that we are the best team in the world. And rightly so.”

Besides skippering the team to glory, Walker was one of City’s stars, earning himself the adidas Silver Ball award as the global finals’ second-best player.

The sense that this 32-year-old is scaling new heights in an already-impressive career was then strengthened last week, when he was voted into the FIFA/FIFPRO Word 11 for the first time.

“The main thing about that is the fact it’s voted for by your peers,” he said. “It shows they appreciate the work you’re putting in on the field. That’s why it’s such a great honour.”

Walker was one of six City players in that World 11, and another member of the sextet, Erling Haaland, numbered among three finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Player award. While he was pipped to the prize by one of the game’s all-time greats in Lionel Messi, his captain expects the prolific Norwegian to be a consistent contender for such honours.

“We thought when he came, ‘Ok, he’s going to hit the ground running because he’s a top, top player.’ But to do what he did, and score the amount of goals that he did, is incredible and really sets him apart,” said Walker.

“He’s gone up against tough competition, in probably the best player ever to grace the game of football. But Erling’s got many years to come and I’m sure he’ll be sat here again, competing for that big prize.”

One team-mate did emerge from the London ceremony with that coveted tag of ‘The Best’. Ederson has helped redefine the role of goalkeeper and, having played in front of him for the past six-and-a-half years, Walker was well qualified – and eager – to sing the Brazilian’s praises.

“He’s like a left-back, isn’t he? He’s fantastic,” the defender enthused. “There’s three of us – him, me and Bernardo [Silva] – who came in during the same transfer window back in 2017, got the ball rolling and are still here.

“He’s played a huge part. To have someone who’s so composed at the back to play out, it gives us an extra number when we’re on the ball. And he makes vital saves in big moments. So, yeah, he fully deserves this.”

And what of Pep Guardiola, the other City representative to be crowned The Best in England’s capital? How has Walker found the experience of working under one of the most revered, and intense, coaches in football history?

“Sometimes it’s a nightmare!” he said, laughing. “Just because he’s so demanding. But I think that’s also why he’s gone and achieved what he has in football.

“No disrespect to Alex Ferguson, but I you can put [Guardiola] in that category now because of the amount of trophies that he’s won, and with different teams too. You know, we’ve seen players – key players too – come and go at City, and we always seem to be coming out on top. You have to put a lot of that down to him.”

With an era-defining coach and a squad crammed with world-class talent, City certainly have plenty to purr about. Perhaps the only question facing Walker and Co, given their sensational successes in 2023, is how they can possibly improve on a near-perfect year?

“It’s about replicating it really,” he said. “People keep on asking us: ‘How do you keep going and keep winning?’ But I think that’s just the mentality that we’ve got as a group – as players and especially the manager. He’s the big driving force in that and we just try and follow his orders.

“In every competition, we want to go on and win it. And right now, we’re still in contention for the big three (the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League). I think there’s bigger competition for the Premier League this season, and Liverpool are looking really strong right now.

“Then the Champions League is a toss of a coin; you always need a little bit of luck in that one. But, like every competition, we’re in it to win it.”