Everton Football Club condemn 'vile' racist abuse on social media and vow to find perpetrator

Everton FC have condemned 'vile' racist abuse aimed at midfielder Amadou Onana.

The Premier League club released a statement that the 22-year-old Senegal-born Belgium international had been targeted and reiterated its zero-tolerance stance on discrimination.

It read: "Everton FC strongly condemns any form of racist and discriminatory abuse towards our players.

"The club is aware of a racist post targeted at Amadou Onana. Such abuse is vile and will not and should not be tolerated.

"We must all take a zero-tolerance stance by reporting such behaviour to social media platforms and the authorities.

"Racism has no place online, in our stadium or in our communities."

An investigation is under way and the Toffees say they are ready to support police in whatever they may need.

A Merseyside Police spokesperson said: “We can confirm an investigation is underway after it was reported racist comments were made on social media directed towards an Everton player.

“We are committed to working closely with football clubs and ‘Kick it Out’, English football’s equality and inclusion organisation, to tackle racism and discrimination in football.

“It is appalling to think that anyone would use an online platform to target anyone with abuse based on their race and we condemn such behaviour in the strongest terms.

“We take all reports of hate crime extremely seriously, and I would like to remind social media users that any belief that they can maintain anonymity online to commit offences is misplaced.

"Offences committed online, including malicious communications and any inappropriate behaviour, can be investigated.”

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