08 March 2023 , 17:35
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Three weeks ago, Kyle Walker was singled out for praise by Pep Guardiola.
“Kyle is back with the way he is behaving,” said the Manchester City manager. You can say that again, it seems. Not for the first time, reports of Walker’s off-the-field behaviour have been trending on social media, with CCTV-supported suggestions of some anti-social antics early on Sunday evening.
It appears that at the same time as Liverpool were having one under the eight, City’s Walker was having one over the eight. It has been claimed Walker exposed himself in a public bar and it seems Cheshire Police are investigating whether any criminal offence has been committed, so let’s leave that to them.
And let’s stress Walker was on a day off work and also had the following day off. Some of his team-mates chose to take a mini-break - Walker, quite clearly, chose to have a few bevvies.
We know Walker is no stranger to a party, having hosted one with two escorts during the coronavirus lockdown.
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After that, Walker released a statement, saying: “I want to take this opportunity to issue a public apology for the choices I made last week. I understand that my position as a professional footballer brings the responsibility of being a role model.
Kyle Walker has made 21 appearances in all competitions for Manchester City this season (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)“As such, I want to apologise to my family, friends, football club, supporters and the public for letting them down.”
There is no letting the family, friends, football club, supporters and the public down on this occasion. They all might be embarrassed for him by choosing to drink on his rest day - and certainly not over-impressed - but that is probably as far as it goes.
It will be a different story if other details come to light that convince the police to take any preliminary inquiries further but, until that time, Walker's session has only let himself down and Guardiola, who will have to field plenty of questions about the England defender in the build-up to Saturday’s Premier League match at Crystal Palace.