Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood play for Manchester’s two arch-rivals. Foden represents the blue side of the city whereas Greenwood wears the red shirt with pride.
Both the youngsters were handed their England debut by Gareth Southgate in the UEFA Nations League match against Iceland.
But on the weekend, the Manchester players were found guilty of breaching COVID-19 rules and regulations. They have been alleged to have brought girls into their hotel room while on England duty in Iceland over the weekend.
According to reports in the Icelandic media, the players met two girls in a separate part of the Reykjavik hotel away from where the England team were staying and invited them to their room.
— Phil Foden (@PhilFoden) September 7, 2020
Manchester City player Phil Foden was the first to issue an apology letter. He took to Twitter to apologise to Gareth Southgate, his England team-mates, staffs, supporters and also to his club and family.
A message from Mason.#MUFC @England
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 8, 2020
Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood was next in line to issue an apology for his conduct during international duty. He said: “Having now had the chance to reflect on what’s happened, I can only apologise to everyone for the embarrassment I have caused.”
“It was irresponsible of me to break the COVID-19 protocols which are in place to protect players, staff and the public.”
“In particular, I want to apologise to Gareth Southgate, for letting him down, when he had shown great trust in me. Playing for England was one of the proudest moments in my life and I only have myself to blame for this huge mistake.”
“I promise my family, the fans, Manchester United and England that this is a lesson I will learn from.”
England boss Southgate told reporters on Monday: “It’s a very serious situation and we have treated it that way and have acted as quickly as we have been able to. We have dealt with it appropriately. I recognise their age but the whole world is dealing with this pandemic.”
“Nothing has happened in the areas we occupy in the team hotel.”
“We are still getting to the depths of all the information because it was only brought to my attention only a couple of hours before training. “We had to decide very quickly that they couldn’t have any interaction with the rest of the team, wouldn’t be able to travel to training.”
“Given the procedures that we have to follow now, they’ll have to travel back to England separately.”
The Sun has now reported that the pair have arrived back in Manchester on Monday night. They have been handed a 4 match ban by the England FA.
They will miss England’s game against Denmark on Tuesday. They will also not be considered for the matches against Wales, Belgium and Denmark again next month as punishment.
The Icelandic police have also fined the duo 250,000 Icelandic Krona (£1,300) for the rule breach during the coronavirus pandemic. This fine must be paid by the individual players themselves and not by the FA or their clubs.
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