David De Gea will have been left red-faced this week when his girlfriend, Edurne Garcia, publicly admitted that she is not a fan of the city of Manchester.
Garcia agreed with host Pablo Motos on the Spanish entertainment show El Hormiguero that the city is "uglier than the back of a fridge."
"It's not very nice, that's for sure. You have to hunt out specific places - the nice places," she stated.
This led to a big backlash on social media and further fuelled rumours that De Gea will quit United this summer for long-term admirers Real Madrid.
Garcia, though, is merely the latest in a long line of footballers' wives and girlfriends (WAGs) to get their partners' names plastered all over newspapers for the wrong reasons.
Giampaolo Pazzini was also left embarrassed earlier this season when his wife, Silvia Slitti, launched a thinly-veiled verbal assault on his coach at AC Milan, Filippo Inzaghi.
Slitti took to Instagram to argue that her 30-year-old spouse has not been given a proper chance to shine under the under-fire Rossoneri boss.
Unsurprisingly, the rant did not go unnoticed by Italy's sporting press and the striker was forced to go to the San Siro head coach with his tail between his legs to offer an apology.
Indeed, Serie A in particular has a rich and growing history of players' other halves kicking back against coaches.
Massimiliano Allegri was in charge of Milan when Luca Antonini ended his five-year spell at San Siro last year to join Genoa and, once the axe was dropped on the coach in January 2014 due to the Rossoneri's woeful form, the defender's wife wasted little time in celebrating his sacking.
The above tweet (which translates as "finally, I am rejoicing! What a beautiful day!") was sent out by Benedetta Balleggi, aka Lady Antonini, just after she had retweeted a link to a story confirming Allegri's long-rumoured departure.
Thankfully, WAG rants are not always po-faced. Mats Hummels' girlfriend Cathy Fischer raised a chuckle when she poked fun at Cristiano Ronaldo's personal grooming practices following last May's Champions League final, during which the Portuguese stripped off his shirt to celebrate scoring the final goal in Real Madrid's 4-1 win over city rivals Atletico.
"Is that masculine for you? Not for me. I am not one for Brazilian waxing," Fischer sniped.
“I do not like it when a man’s legs are more shaved than mine, but of course, each to their own!
The comments from Fischer were clearly light-hearted, but they nonetheless sparked more than a few fierce arguments online over whether Ronaldo is the wannabe "top model" she joked about or simply a man who looks after himself.
Samir Nasri's girlfriend didn't think twice about voicing her opinion on her partner's absence from the France squad for last summer's World Cup.
Didier Deschamps did not see the funny side when model Anara Atanes tweeted "f*ck France and f*ck Deschamps" in response to the Manchester City attacking midfielder's exclusion, with the Bleus boss reacting to her Twitter rant by declaring his intention to sue. She also called him "a sh*t manager".
Ms Atanes was not the only raging WAG as the 2014 World Cup squads were being decided: Giuseppe Rossi's girlfriend reacted sourly when she found out Italy boss Cesare Prandelli had chosen to ditch the Fiorentina ace because of concerns over the forward's fitness. "Wretched decision from Prandelli that does not reward a guy who has shown commitment, work ethic and heart," Jenna Sodano wrote on Twitter. "Now we await the results on the field..."
For a change, the WAG was not acting alone - Rossi himself did not hide his disappointment, resulting in a very public row between him and the then national team coach.
In the end, Rossi and Sodano had the last laugh as the Azzurri strikeforce flopped in Brazil. The 2006 champions were dumped out at the group stage for the second time in a row, thus costing Prandelli his job.
Rossi once graced the Premier League with Manchester United, of course, and the 'Theatre of Dreams' dressing rooms have not been without their fair share of social networking drama.
When former Red Devils skipper Roy Keane singled out midfielder Michael Carrick for criticism as Man Utd were defeated by Olympiakos in the 2013-14 Champions League, the Englishman's wife Lisa snapped.
"Roy Keane what a **** says anything to provoke a reaction .. that's all.. Done ..." she wrote on her personal Twitter account. She swiftly deleted the tweet, though, admitting that she may have taken the bait a little too quickly.
Regardless of her apology, Mrs Carrick joined the long (and lengthening by the day) line of people with a grudge against the ever-opinionated Keane.
Whereas many of the examples on this list can easily be dismissed as heat-of-the-moment responses, Kenwyne Jones' girlfriend Kissa Abdullah's reaction of disgust to Stoke City players putting a pig's head inside the striker's locker is one many people can surely agree is a rational reaction.
Especially when compared to how Jones reportedly responded: by throwing a brick through the window of his team-mate Glenn Whelan's Porsche car as revenge for the original 'prank'.
The Potters were forced to launch an investigation to resolve the sticky situation, which the players involved insisted it was just "banter" that had gone a bit too far.
On the other side of the sanity divide is Dejan Lovren's wife Anita, who used her toddler daughter to get a sly dig in at Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers.
Her husband - who has struggled since his arrival from Southampton - was dropped for the clash with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, prompting her to question his absence via their daughter on her Instagram.
A more agreeable kneejerk reaction, perhaps, was when Anita Lovren watched the Croatia defender and his international team-mates lose 3-1 to Brazil in the World Cup 2014 opener. The game saw a number of contentious decisions go in favour of the tournament hosts.
The match official, Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura, actually has a habit of getting on the wrong side of football WAGs. At the start of November, the wife of Al-Hilal coach Laurentiu Reghecampf kicked off in style due to his performance in the AFC Champions League final, in which Western Sydney Wanderers triumphed.
Anamaria Reghecampf's stream of explosive tweets included gems such as "this mother f****r referee was the one who invent [sic] one penalty at the World Cup (Brasil-Croatia)"; a caption saying "go in jail" with a photo attached of Nishimura; and one proudly claiming "Al-Hilal is the winner!!! Against the referee is hard to do something!!!! Congratulation Al-Hilal!!! I'm so proud".
All of which only serves to underline the old adage that 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'.
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