Kyle Walker opted for the budget option when making a late-night dash to Manchester just hours after playing for AC Milan at the San Siro.  

The 34-year-old, who returned to the Rossoneri squad for their 2-0 win over Venezia following surgery on a broken elbow, was spotted on a Ryanair flight from Milano Malpensa Airport to the UK. 

The defender's decision to move to Italy came amid family drama off the pitch, with Walker fighting for his marriage with the mother of four of his children, Annie Kilner, after also fathering two kids with his influencer ex-mistress Lauryn Goodman.

Kilner and their children have made regular trips to Italy but have remained in the UK. 

Walker took up a spot at the very front of the plane and was, ironically, seen watching an episode of the Netflix reality TV show Temptation Island. The program sees couples travel to a tropical island to have their fidelity tested. 

The England international signed autographs for the cabin crew and was 'quite pleasant' according to a fellow passenger on the flight. He also exchanged messages with his Three Lions colleague and former City team-mate Jack Grealish.

It follows reports last month that Walker upset his wife when he went partying with two Serbian models in Milan, having spent the day with his family before their flight back home. 

The pair reunited at their home in Cheshire shortly after Walker's night of partying, and the defender was in surprisingly good spirits.

Shortly after arriving at the San Siro, Walker told GQ of his delight to have a fresh start and 'solely concentrate' on his football, away from the antics which caused distraction while at Manchester City. 

It came after Mail Sport revealed that Walker stopped Goodman relocating to Italy ahead of his move to AC Milan by refusing to allow her to rent out her Sussex mansion.

The influencer, mother of the defender's two love children, intended to bankroll her move with the proceeds from a rental agreement, but Walker - who owns the £2.4m property - rejected the proposal.

Goodman, 33, hoped to use the money to rent a place in Milan in order for Walker to be close to their two children Kairo, four and 16-month-old daughter Kinara.

But the England defender, via his lawyers, told Goodman renting out her five-bedroom Sussex mansion was a no-go, saying if she did want to move out, the property would have to be sold.

A source said: 'Kyle just laughed when he heard of Lauryn's proposal and booted it out straight away.'

Goodman had previously expressed a desire to move to Dubai when Walker was initially linked with a transfer to the lucrative Saudi league after he told City boss Pep Guardiola of his intentions of moving abroad.

But after agreeing a deal with AC Milan, Lauryn changed tact, telling pals she would follow Kyle 'anywhere' in a desperate bid for him to connect with their children, and no doubt deliberately irk his wife Annie Kilner.

If Walker was hoping his private life would quickly cease to be a topic of discussion, he would have been devastated by the news revealed by the Mail on Sunday, that Goodman is planning a tell-all autobiography. 

In March, sources close to Goodman said she is in the early stages of the book and has been hunting for a ghostwriter. To make matters worse for the Walker family, she is also in talks to appear in a documentary for Channel 4 about badly behaved footballers.

A friend told the MoS: 'Lauryn has been wanting to do a book for some time. She has been talking about it and asking writers to pen it for her.

'As we know, she does not hold back when she wants to say something she wants out there, so it is likely to cause Kyle and Annie yet another headache.

'They have been trying to move on from all of this but with a book on its way, it will be pretty impossible. Lauryn doesn't seem to want to live a quiet life.'

Goodman told Kilner in December 2023 that her second child, a daughter named Kinara, was Walker's, along with her son Kairo, five. Kilner then threw Walker out of their family home in Cheshire, but three months later they began to repair their marriage.

In October last year, she served him with divorce papers but friends of the couple insist they are trying to make their relationship work.

On the pitch, Walker has  made a big impression for Milan and featured in 11 matches in his first two months. The side are a long way off the Champions League qualification places but they could still get their hands on silverware in the form of the Coppa Italia. 

Milan have a £4.2million option to make Walker's loan deal permanent at the end of the season but, based on the defender's recent comments, a return to the Etihad remains a possibility.

'After I said my goodbyes, Pep [Guardiola] got up and spoke and said a really nice message to me, just saying thank you for everything,' Walker said on his BBC podcast this month.

'But listen, it's not over. I'm just on loan here. I've got to take that into consideration that I can go back. Obviously, both parties need to come to an agreement come the end of the season and. The chapter's not fully closed, we'll see what happens.'