Jack Grealish Aston VillaGetty

Grealish 'deeply embarrassed', apologises for breaking coronavirus lockdown guidelines

Jack Grealish has apologised for breaking coronavirus isolation guidelines after pictures of the Aston Villa star emerged online following a traffic incident in Solihull, near Birmingham.

An investigation had been launched following the emergence of the pictures, after a Range Rover had damaged two parked cars in a crash in the Dickens Heath area on Sunday.

The incident occurred only a day after Grealish had released a video on social media urging people to stay at home during the lockdown.

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Grealish said on Monday: “Hi everybody, I just want to do a quick video message just to say how deeply embarrassed I am by what has happened this weekend.

“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 around to his and I stupidly agreed to do so.

“I don’t want anyone to make the same mistake that I did, so I urge everybody to stay at home and follow the rules and the guidelines of what we have been asked to do.

“I know as a fact that I will be doing that in the near future now and I urge everybody to do the same.

“I hope everybody can accept my apology and we can move on from this. Hopefully in the near future we can all be out and enjoying ourselves again once this has all boiled over.”

Aston Villa have also released a statement, confirming that Grealish would be disciplined and fined with the proceeds donated to The University Hospitals Charity in Birmingham.

Villa's statement read: "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 discplined and fined with the proceeds donated to The University Hospitals Charity in Birmingham."

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Monday that 1,408 people had died due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the UK.

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