Eni Aluko deletes Twitter after 'racist abuse' because of Rice opinion

Ex-women's footballer-turned-pundit Eni Aluko has deleted her Twitter account after calling out 'racist, sexist and misogynistic' abuse online.

The 102-cap former England international hypothesised this week that Manchester City didn't really want to sign Declan Rice and suggested some contact had been made between Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta - later claiming to be proved right.

Aluko gave her initial opinion on talkSPORT and later argued with Simon Jordan, but it was the online response that was questioned by the 36-year-old.

The ex-Chelsea forward turned Angel City FC sporting director has since removed her Twitter account, as she did back in 2021 before returning - but is still active for now on her Instagram.

Her initial response said: "Safe to say I suspected Rice wasn't going up the M6 to Manchester! I've had a lot of laughs on this today, it was very quiet from the pile-on brigade – somehow a lot of haters went missing. Apologies are much quieter than disrespect.

"Disagreement is part of the job. But disagreement should never be used by people to be sexist, racist, misogynistic to women in football.

"It's an absolute disgrace and I won't ignore it for the benefit of a lot of men who project their own jealousy & insecurity spouting abuse. Women in football are not going away. Get used to it.

"We know our stuff, we speak from a place of professional insight and experience. Take it or leave it, agree, disagree but if you choose sexism, racism, misogyny to disagree, you ARE the problem and you're exposing yourself.

"If you spend your time attacking women in football, you are exposing the fact you can NEVER be at the same level. You're entitled to opinion, don't abuse it to be racist, sexist and misogynistic."

Prior to deleting her Twitter account, Aluko sent messages in response to some fans, one of which was screen-shotted from her public account and read: "Says the white guy called Dave with an England flag in his profile - you tick the racist box".

😳 𝗦𝗝: "If I had a technical director like Eni, I'd be fed up! It's manipulation by it's very definition!"

❌ 𝗘𝗔: "That's not what it is, Simon! There's no manipulation! It's communication!"

Simon Jordan clashes with Eni Aluko over her comments on Declan Rice's transfer. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hjNdLYvqAu

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) June 29, 2023

 Aluko pinpointed how City only made a single bid for Rice as being right in her prediction that Arteta asked them to help out, so that Arsenal's board would be forced into stumping up the necessary cash to get the deal done with West Ham.

The Hammers skipper now looks set to join Arsenal for a club-record fee of up to £105million, after leading his current side to UEFA Conference League glory.

Aluko is also a pundit on ITV Sport and BT, as well as director of recruitment at Angel City.