Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole has said Paul Pogba will be ‘hurt’ and ‘bitterly disappointed’ by the abuse he has received on social media.
The Frenchman became the latest high-profile player to be racially abused online after missing a penalty in his side’s draw against Wolves on Monday.
“Of course it can affect you because we’re human. People think ‘ah, he’s earning all this money, he should be able to accept it and get on with it’. But it doesn’t work like that,” said United legend Cole, speaking on talkSPORT.
“Behind closed doors, it does hurt. You are no different to anybody else. You are human and when people say certain things about you, it bitterly disappoints you. There’s no doubt Paul will be bitterly disappointed.
“He is still smiling, still laughing but it hurts, definitely.”
Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham and Reading’s Yakou Meite have also been targeted in similar ways after failing to score spot-kicks in the past week.
The incidents have led to greater calls for Twitter to take stronger action and the company has acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.
Cole added: “It disappoints you, it disappoints your family and it disappoints your teammates.
“It [social media] gives them a platform to do it but it is a problem in society as well. We need to tidy up in society first.
“Over the past three, four years, this problem has really reared its head and it’s disappointing we are not trying to get hold of it.”
Earlier on Thursday it was revealed United chiefs are due to meet with representatives of Twitter to discuss the racial abuse aimed at Pogba on the social media platform.
Twitter had already planned a meeting with anti-racism body Kick It Out in the coming weeks, and it is now looking to widen its discussions by bringing in United and other organisations.
A statement from Twitter read: “Over the next few weeks, Twitter representatives will meet with Manchester United, Kick It Out and any other civil society stakeholders interested in hearing about the proactive work Twitter is doing to address online racist abuse towards certain footballers in the UK.
“We have always maintained an open and healthy dialogue with our partners in this space, but we know we need to do more to protect our users. Racist behaviour has no place on our platform and we strongly condemn it.
“To this end, we look forward to working more closely with our partners to develop shared solutions to this issue. In the meantime, for Twitter’s part, we will continue to proactively monitor the conversation, and take aggressive enforcement action when content violates our rules.”
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