Jack Grealish is "deeply embarrassed" after he "stupidly agreed" to go to a friend's house during the coronavirus lockdown – an incident that led Aston Villa to fine their captain.
Pictures emerged online on Sunday that appeared to show the Villa skipper following an incident in which a Range Rover crashed into parked cars.
West Midlands Police announced they were investigating the incident and Grealish posted a video on Twitter apologising for his actions.
— Jack Grealish (@JackGrealish) March 30, 2020
“I just want to do a quick video message just to say how deeply embarrassed I am by about what’s happened this weekend,” he said.
“I know it’s a tough time for everyone at the moment, being locked indoors for so long and I obviously just got a call off a friend asking to go round to his – and I stupidly agreed to do so.
“I don’t want anyone to make the same mistake that I did, so I obviously urge everyone to stay at home and follow the rules and the guidelines of what we’ve been asked to do.
“I know for a fact that I’ll be doing that in the near future now and obviously, like I said, I urge everyone to do the same.
“I hope everyone can accept my apology and we can move on from this and hopefully obviously in the near future we can all be out and enjoying ourselves again once this has all boiled over.”
The Premier League club said in a statement: “Aston Villa is deeply disappointed that one of our players ignored the government’s guidance on staying at home during the coronavirus crisis.
“Club captain Jack Grealish has accepted that his decision to leave his house was wrong and entirely unnecessary. It breached the government guidelines which are clear and should be adhered to by everybody.
“The player will be disciplined and fined with the proceeds donated to The University Hospitals Charity in Birmingham.”
