‘I was wrong’: Gary Lineker reveals he apologised to £50m Man City player after ‘upsetting’ him on Twitter

Kyle Walker is undoubtedly one of the best full-backs in world football these days, but, once upon a time, he wasn’t seen as such an incredible talent.

Indeed, while Walker was at Tottenham, many questioned his technical ability as he largely relied on his pace and defensive nous rather than his creativity or ability to attack.

Back in 2017, Walker left Tottenham Hotspur for City in a deal worth a reported fee of £55 million. Since then, the Englishman has gone on to become a very important player for both club and country.

During his time with City, Walker has lifted five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups the Champions League and the UEFA Supercup.

Gary Lineker had a bit of a dig on social media, stating that he’d have been worth much more than £50m if he could cross a ball.

Lineker has now stated that this tweet actually upset Walker at the time, and that he had to apologise to him further down the line when he saw him at a charity function.

Speaking to The Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker said: “I kind of upset him, I think, a little bit. 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’.”

Lineker added: “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.”

At this point, former City player Micah Richards jokingly claimed that Lineker had panicked and backed down.

To which Lineker replied: “I just felt I was wrong. I wasn’t scared… he couldn’t catch me anyway, could he?”

Proven wrong

Lineker may have had a dig at Walker when he left Tottenham, but it’s the right-back who has had the last laugh.

Indeed, Walker has since blossomed into one of the very best defenders the Premier League has ever seen, and his crossing ability now really can’t be called into question.

Walker has improved immensely since going to Man City, and we can’t help but praise him for his development over the past few years.