PHOTO: England Star Makes Light of Teammate Raheem Sterling's Tattoo Furore With Cheeky Twitter Post

England defender Kyle Walker has used Twitter to take a dig at news outlets who accused teammate Raheem Sterling of promoting gun crime.

Sterling was recently pictured with a tattoo of a gun on his right leg, which subjected him to heavy and somewhat bizarre criticism from sections of the British media.

However, the forward defended himself on Instagram - saying that the tattoo is a tribute to his father, who was shot dead during the Manchester City star's early childhood.

Fernandinho has since spoken out in defence of Sterling, while another of his City teammates Walker posted pictures of himself behind the camera on a fun photo shoot with his England star and used the caption to take a sly dig at the ovetry critical press.

He captioned the images: "Smile for the camera...but make sure you cover up your tattoos lads"

The tweet has been well received and Walker's tongue-in-cheek comment encouraged some England fans to mock up some fake headlines of their own, while others praised Walker for defending his colleague and friend.

The duo will be hoping to link up well together on the pitch, when England host Nigeria in a friendly at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.