Times of Malta has landed Gary Neville in hot water after adding words not written by the Man Utd defender in his column.

In a piece about striker Wayne Rooney, Neville was quoted as saying on yesterday's The Sunday Times: "The best outcome was reached for all parties, except perhaps Manchester City."

In a statement, The Sunday Times of Malta newspaper said the last four words of the quote were added by a journalist, and apologised for the error.

The paper said: "We apologise unreservedly to Mr Neville."

Gary Neville's article was quoted by various British newspaper who saw the "except perhaps Manchester City" line as a dig to Man Utd's city rivals.

But despite Neville not hiding from controversy in the past, it turned out that that line was not from Neville's pen.

Editor Steve Mallia said: "With reference to Gary Neville's column in the Sunday Times of Malta of 24 October, the newspaper would like to clarify the following: At no point did Gary Neville state the phrase, 'Except perhaps Manchester City'.

"These words were added by the journalist who worked on the column with Mr Neville and were never intended to appear in the printed version of the article. Mr Neville did not utter these words, nor did he allude to Manchester City in any way.

"We apologise unreservedly to Mr Neville for the error and regret the considerable inconvenience it has caused him."