Mikel Arteta speaks out after Kai Havertz’s wife abused by social media trolls | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has condemned the social media trolls who directed abuse at the wife of Arsenal forward Kai Havertz.

The German international’s pregnant wife, Sophia, was targeted in the wake of the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United, sharing two posts featuring abhorrent messages.

She described one message as “shocking” and urged her half-a-million followers to be “more respectful”.

It is understood that data technology company Signify has been tasked by Arsenal to determine the identity of the abusers. The investigation could then enable the club to report the perpetrators to the police and the accounts will also be flagged up to Instagram.

And an emotional Arteta said that “everybody is responsible” for the culture that caused the remarks to be sent, insisting something has to be done to combat it.

“It‘s incredible, honestly,” Arteta said. “We really have to do something about it, because accepting that and hiding this has terrible consequences.

“It’s something we have to eradicate from the game because it’s so cynical and dependent to a result of an action. There is no other industry like this.

“When we played Ipswich on December 27, we won 1-0 and Kai Havertz scored. The whole stadium after that is singing the ‘Waka, Waka’ (his chant). That was 20 days ago. Where is the perspective?

“We are all responsible. You guys (the media) are responsible, everybody is responsible for the narrative and how we talk. We cannot look somewhere else. That’s a really serious matter. It affects me. It affects him and everybody that is in the industry.

“We can accept it and say ‘that’s our job’, but there are certain limits and the line has to be drawn. We put a lot of attention on technology and what is next in football. What is next in football is that this should be prohibited. It cannot happen. That’s it.”