Stoke defender Robert Huth has apologized for interactions he made on Twitter but it may not be enough for him to escape punishment from the Football Association.
The FA is investigating after Huth responded to a Twitter account which posts sexual images of individuals.
The account invites users of the social-media site to guess from cropped photographs of people in explicit poses whether those pictured have male or female genitalia.
A series of tweets posted from Huth's official account showed the 30-year-old German playing the game.
On Friday evening, with the interactions with the other account having been deleted, he posted a message saying: "Clearly no offence was meant or directed to anyone, but apologies if I've offended anyone."
Huth had already received criticism from within the trans community.
One Twitter user, @queenthingy, wrote: ''It is clear that @stokecity cannot allow @robert_huth to continue his transphobic adventures. Club being put into disrepute.''
Another, @infuriousbeauty, stated: ''People might want to consider asking @stokecity football club why their player @robert_huth thinks it's okay to bully trans people online.''
Stoke declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Press Association Sport.
In October the FA handed QPR defender Rio Ferdinand a three-match suspension, as well as a £5,000 fine, for comments he made on Twitter.
Ferdinand directed a jibe at a Twitter follower containing the word 'sket', which was understood to be a slang term taken to mean a promiscuous girl or woman.
In its statement concerning the former England captain, the FA said Ferdinand's comment had been ''abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper'' and an aggravated breach as it ''included a reference to gender.''
