GARY LINEKER has revealed he apologised to Kyle Walker after “upsetting” him with a tweet following his move from Tottenham to Manchester City.
The England defender, 33, arrived at the Etihad in a £50million deal in 2017 after eight years with Spurs.
He has gone on to become a key player for Pep Guardiola’s side, racking up 260 appearances across seven seasons.
In that time, he has won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and the Champions League.
Yet Lineker, 62, was not sold on the right-back when he was first signed by Man City six years ago – a stance he now regrets.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, he said: “I kind of upset him, I think, a little bit.
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“I was a bit of a Spurs man [and] he left Spurs – can you remember what his price was now? 50, 60 million? I think it was £50m.
“Occasionally I get myself in trouble with tweets… and I tweeted something along the lines of ‘What a player, imagine how much they’d have had to pay if he could cross the ball’.
“I shouldn’t have done it really and I think it upset him a little bit.
“I hosted an event for Vincent Kompany’s charity and I went up to Kyle and said ‘I just want to say two things. One, you’re one hell of a player. And two, I shouldn’t have said that, I was out of order.”
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When Micah Richards – who left Lineker stunned with his own story during the podcast – joked the ex-England striker had panicked and backed down, Lineker hilariously added: “I just felt I was wrong. I wasn’t scared… he couldn’t catch me anyway, could he?”
As well as his superb club form, Walker is also continuing to impress in an England shirt despite approaching his mid-30s.
He started the Three Lions’ games against Ukraine and Scotland during the international break, netting a first goal for his country in the 1-1 draw with Ukraine and assisting in the 3-1 win over the Scots.
He has now racked up 78 caps, the second-most of any English right-back in the country’s history behind Gary Neville – who made 85 appearances.
That is despite healthy competition for the spot, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier and Reece James all vying for the position in recent years.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
