Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill have outed themselves as the four West Bromwich Albion players involved in an incident that took place during the club's warm-weather training camp in Barcelona.
News emerged on Friday afternoon of the as-then-unnamed quartet allegedly stealing a taxi in the Catalan city at the break of dawn on Thursday, which they left abandoned outside the team's hotel.
Spanish police have since confirmed that the players were each questioned but no arrests were made, with an investigation being launched looking into the matter.
West Brom are also probing what exactly happened in an incident that boss Alan Pardew described as "unacceptable", during what was supposed to be a trip centred on building fitness.
While the nature of what took place in Barcelona is still unclear at the present time, the four players involved - including skipper Evans - have released a joint-statement apologising to all those linked to the Baggies.
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to our teammates, the head coach, the club and especially the supporters for the events which have been the subject of widespread and negative publicity," the statement, released via the club's official website, read.
"We felt it important we identify ourselves as the players involved in an incident which occurred during the training camp in Spain this week out of respect for team-mates who otherwise could be implicated by association.
"We freely acknowledge and apologise for the break of curfew which we accept represented a breach of the standards of professionalism required of us as representatives of West Bromwich Albion FC.
"The club has informed us that it will now conduct its own inquiry into the incident and we will co-operate fully. In the meantime, we would like to assure our supporters that this incident does not reflect the determination and resolve we possess to do all we can to recover a difficult season."
Albion, who are in FA Cup action at Southampton on Saturday afternoon, find themselves seven points adrift of safety at the bottom of the Premier League after picking up just one win since August.
Daniel Lewis
