Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor has apologised for sending out a tweet with apparent racial overtones.

Taylor caused a Twitter storm over the tweet, which was aimed at teammates Massadio Haidara, Moussa Sissoko, Papiss Cisse and Vurnon Anita.

The 27-year-old has since deleted the tweet, but did apologise shortly afterwards for any offence he may have caused.

"Apologies if my tweet offended anybody," Taylor wrote on Twitter.

Haidara has jumped to the defence of Taylor, insisting that the incident was just "banter".