Arteta sounds warning as he admits Havertz affected by social media abuse
Share:
Mikel Arteta has warned of the “terrible consequences” of failing to crack down on social media abuse and admitted Kai Havertz has been affected by the abhorrent messages sent to his pregnant wife. Havertz missed a penalty in Arsenal’s shootout defeat by Manchester United in which Gabriel Jesus was taken off on a stretcher. Arteta refused to confirm reports that the Brazil forward has an anterior cruciate ligament injury, with Jesus due to see a specialist on Tuesday, but the emotional Arsenal manager was clear that social media companies must do more to combat online abuse when he was asked about the messages shared by Havertz’s wife, Sophia.
![[Gabriel Jesus lies injured against Manchester United.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/46989e5f2c06fa1881bc00649a0e29042d57c8d4/0_249_3981_2389/master/3981.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“It’s incredible, honestly,” he 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 27 December, we win 1-0 and Kai Havertz scores. 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. 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.”.
