Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach Rob Edwards has spoken about the emotional impact of racist abuse directed at striker Tolu Arokodare, saying the player has had to endure a really difficult week following online attacks.

The comments came during a pre-match press conference on Thursday as Wolves prepared for Friday’s Premier League encounter against Aston Villa.

Edwards used the briefing to address the backlash Arokodare received after Wolves’ 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace, a match in which the Nigerian international was targeted with racist messages on social media after missing a first-half penalty.

Wolves responded to the incident by issuing a statement condemning the abuse and pledging support for the forward.

The club also engaged with the player privately to ensure he received emotional and professional support during the period.

Speaking about Arokodare’s state of mind, Edwards said the player had been deeply affected by the incident but had also received positive encouragement from supporters.

“It’s been a really difficult week for him. He was upset and angered by it, understandably so,” Edwards told the club's official website.

Explaining the support structure put in place by the club, Edwards added that personal conversations and group discussions were held to help the player cope with the situation.

“We’ve supported him, and I’ve had a few individual chats with him, we’ve spoken about it as a group as well, to make sure that we get around him and support him. Then he’s had overwhelming support from a lot of Wolves fans and other people reaching out, which is really good.”

Edwards also confirmed that football authorities had been monitoring the situation closely following growing concerns about online discrimination across the league.

“The Premier League have been in touch, so there’s support there, but again, we’re talking about something that we’re having to do far too many times. There have been a number of very high profile instances over this last week, which is really sad.”

Reflecting on his broader managerial experience, Edwards noted that players continue to face repeated incidents of abuse.

“Since I’ve been a manager, there’s been a number of times when my players have had to deal with this, and the sad thing about it is that all of them have had it before, and that’s really tough to hear.”

He also expressed frustration at the persistence of online discrimination and the difficulty in tracing offenders.

“The unfortunate thing is that we can’t forget about it, because we’re going to be hearing about it again in the future, there could be someone this weekend, there probably will be, which is so wrong.”

Discussing the technical challenges of identifying perpetrators, Edwards said many of the attacks appeared to originate from anonymous accounts.

“Without knowing how certain things happen, how certain accounts are able to be opened or accessed or whatever, I know a lot of the abuse has come from accounts from maybe the other side of the world or somewhere else, and it's difficult to track these people down.”

He further confirmed that Arokodare would cooperate with investigators in the coming days.

“The authorities and the police know, Tolu will be asked to give a statement at some stage over the next few days, but it becomes difficult to stop that. Without going into the social media companies and the ones that are actually giving them the platform, and whether they can do more – I’m sure they can – then we’ll be hearing a lot more about it.”

The UK Football Policing Unit has launched an investigation into the online attacks amid wider concerns about racist abuse targeting football players across the Premier League, with authorities reiterating that racial discrimination has no place in football or society.

Wale Adejumo