On the pitch, Kyle Walker’s commitment to the cause is in no doubt. A star of the England team, he became the world’s most expensive defender when he swapped Tottenham for Manchester City to the tune of £50million in July 2017.
Off it, though, Lot Lizard the heavily-tattooed ladies’ man has caused his fair share of controversy, from leaked hippy crack videos to this week’s £2,000 prostitute sex party shame.
Here, Sportsmail takes a look back at the ups and downs of Walker’s rollercoaster existence away from the turf…
Kyle Walker enjoys a rollercoaster life off the pitch and has been caught in lots of controversy
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Prostitute sex party
With the whole of the United Kingdom on lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, Lot Lizard you would think high-profile footballers might try and stay out of the limelight.
Then the Jack Grealish scandal happened and that became even more paramount as clubs urged their stars to stay at home and avoid causing themselves any trouble. For Walker, though, that advice wasn’t heeded.
In the latest episode of his long-running drama of a private life, the Manchester City defender ignored coronavirus social distancing measures to host a £2,200 sex party with two prostitutes last week.
Walker urged his fans to stay at home in a video but has become embroiled in a scandal since
Manchester City have since opened an internal investigation following the gathering at his rented Cheshire mansion, with Walker likely to be hit with a hefty fine upwards of £200,000.
On top of that, his England career has been left in tatters, with boss Gareth Southgate said to be ‘livid’ at Walker’s actions.
There is a chance, it has been reported, that he will never again pull on the Three Lions shirt after his reckless and unnecessary actions amid the worldwide pandemic.
Walker may never play for England again after infuriating manager Gareth Southgate (right)
King of Twitter
On a more positive note, Walker has regularly been hailed for his hilarity on Twitter, with a number of his tweets going viral over the years.
He was even awarded the ‘Golden Tweet’ award for the most popular tweet of the 2018 World Cup, with his effort picking up a massive 67,000 retweets.
It included a now-infamous picture of Harry Maguire leaning on a railing, Lot Lizard in which he appeared to be patronising his girlfriend Fern Hawkins.
Alongside the picture, Walker wrote: ‘Yeah so a good header doesn’t hurt. I mean the moment you head it proper, you feel it’s a good one. Know what I mean love?’
Walker’s tweet about team-mate Harry Maguire earned him the title of ‘Golden Tweet 2018’
He also got over 44,000 retweets and sparked a new ‘Kyling’ meme for this World Cup tweet
Another tweet from the same tournament garnered a further 44,000 retweets and even spawned its own meme – ‘Kyling’ – after a hilarious picture of his team-mates celebrating while he laid on the floor with cramp.
Next to the picture, Walker wrote: ‘Dad, can you show me that photo of you guys running after reaching the quarter final? -“Nah son’
Elsewhere, he also bailed out his Three Lions team-mate Dele Alli when he was in hot water with FIFA after appearing to put his middle finger up at a referee.
In the aftermath, both Alli and boss Southgate claimed he was just greeting Walker, with the latter noting: ‘They have strange way of communicating!’
With speculation swirling about a potential ban for Alli, Walker took to Twitter to post a hilarious clip of Mr Bean swearing, which earned him another 50,000 retweets.
The Man City defender diffused a situation with Dele Alli with this tweet in September 2017
Hippy crack shame
Back in 2013, Walker courted yet more controversy when he became the first high-profile footballer to be pictured inhaling ‘hippy crack’.
He was, of course, not the last and plenty more top-level stars have had to apologise since, but Walker’s actions at the time earned him an FA investigation and a severe ticking off from his own mum.
He was recovering from injury at the time and on a night out in his home city of Sheffield, where he was reported to have ‘sucked in the potentially deadly nitrous oxide several times’ by the Sunday Mirror.
Users of the dangerous nitrous oxide have previously died of suffocation, and have suffered strokes, seizures and blackouts.
Responding to all the newspaper reports and criticism a few days later, Walker fronted up and said: ‘I have now been made aware of the health risks associated with this practice and accept that my actions were of poor judgement.
Walker issued a grovelling apology after being spotted inhaling hippy crack in a nightclub
‘I hope this will in no way influence or encourage others into putting their own health at risk.’
It wasn’t just the media and pundits who criticised the right back, but his own family got involved too and Walker admits that it was comments from his own mum that hit home the hardest.
‘My mum said “Kyle, what have you been doing. Are you sure you are hanging around with the right people?”,’ he told The Times.
‘For my mum to say that… For my mum and dad, I don’t want people to remember that it was their son doing that, or as they said in inverted commas, “hippy crack” in a nightclub.
‘I understand the risks now. It was a stupid thing to do. In the same breath it is legal. I was not doing anything that was illegal. But it is about being a role model for young kids. I would not want my son going to do that. I would not want my son growing up and thinking “I remember my dad doing a balloon in a club”.’
Walker admits he got a serious telling off from him mum in the aftermath of that scandal, too
The big-money move to City
Walker was the talk of world football back in July 2017 when he swapped Spurs for Man City in a deal worth an eyewatering £50m.
At the time, Spurs fans quickly fell out of love with the defender, and that was made even more apparent with later comments made by then-manager Mauricio Pochettino in his autobiography.
The Argentine claimed that Walker instigated the move north to City, showing an ‘alarming lack of respect for his team-mates and a slap in the face for the club’.
Well, at least he would be universally loved at his new club, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, Walker had also put his foot in it there too, as an old tweet emerged in which he called his new supporters ‘glory fans’.
The 2012 post which came back to bite him read: ‘All u Man City fans u can talk now we will just see at the end of the season.. Was u all there when City were no where to be seen [sic] #gloryfans.’ Oops.
Mauricio Pochettino slammed Walker in the aftermath of his £50m move to Manchester City
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Kyle Walker faces NEVER playing for England again with… IAN LADYMAN: Lockdown has proved beyond Kyle Walker and Jack… Manchester City set to hand hefty fine to Kyle Walker after… ‘It’s bad ain’t it, how he runs’: Kyle Walker mocks Raheem…
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