Everton have issued a statement after their player Amadou Onana flagged up the racist abuse he suffered online

Everton say they are aware of a racist online post towards Amadou Onana and have strongly condemned any form of racist and discriminatory abuse towards their players.

Onana took to Instagram to flag up the racist abuse he suffered in the wake of Everton’s 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa and the club have now released a statement on the matter on their Twitter account. It reads: “Everton Football Club 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. The club is conducting an investigation to identify the individual responsible and will also be supporting Police with any investigation they conduct.

“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 stadia or in our communities.”

Senegal-born Onana, a Belgium international who turned 22 last week, has played 36 matches for Everton and has scored one goal since joining them from Lille for £33.5million last August. Following the Blues’ previous match – a 1-0 home defeat to Fulham – Everton condemned personal abuse online towards their French striker Neal Maupay.

Their statement read: “Everton Football Club condemns all forms of personal abuse directed towards our players and their families or any club staff on social media. We stand firmly against such behaviour and are investigating the social media accounts that have targeted Neal Maupay.

“We also encourage anyone using these platforms to report, condemn and highlight any such abuse to the social media platforms on which it appears. Discrimination and hate has no place in our game.”