Aston Villa have reported the racial abuse of teenage winger Tyreik Wright to the police.
Wright received a torrent of racially abusive messages on the social media platform, Instagram on Tuesday night.
The winger posted screenshots of the abuse on his Instagram story.
Aston Villa have condemned the ‘sickening’ abuse and have reported the incident to the police.
A club statement read: ‘Aston Villa Football Club is appalled by the racist abuse of one our academy players, Tyreik Wright.
‘Tyreik, who is currently on loan at Walsall, received sickening and abhorrent messages via his Instagram account, messages which the club have reported to both the social media platform and West Midlands Police.
‘The club is liaising with WMP’s Hate Crime Unit who are now investigating this incident.
‘Aston Villa will work alongside Walsall FC to provide Tyreik with any support he requires and will continue to do everything we can to report and help root out all forms of discrimination.’
This is the latest incident in a long list of online cases of racist abuse in recent months.
Manchester United players Marcus Rashford, Axel Tuanzebe, Anthony Martial and Lauren James are among those who have been the targets of racist abuse on social media, along with Romaine Sawyers and Reece James.
Whilst Swansea midfielder Yan Dhanda recently criticised Facebook’s decision to keep open the account of the person who racially abused him on social media.
Another horrific incident of racial abuse that increases the pressure on social media companies to change their policies.