London: Manchester United defender Chris Smalling apologised on Thursday after a picture emerged of him wearing a suicide bomber costume at a fancy dress party.
The front page of Thursday’s edition of British tabloid The Sun showed the 24-year-old England international clad in Arab dress, including a head scarf, and with a circuit board and wires strapped to his body.
Smalling claimed that the outfit was an “attempted comedy play” on a drink.
In a statement, Smalling’s management company the Wasserman Media Group said: “Chris and his girlfriend hosted a fancy dress party to celebrate Christmas and their belated birthdays with close friends in the assumed privacy of his own home.
“He dressed in a costume consisting of empty bottles and cans of Red Bull strapped to his chest in an attempted comedy play on a popular drink.
“Although he fully accepts in hindsight it was an ill-thought-out and insensitive decision, absolutely no harm was intended whatsoever and he apologises for any offence caused.”
Smalling, who can play at centre-back and right-back, joined United from Fulham in January 2010 and is expected to be a member of Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the World Cup in Brazil later this year.
