AN ONLINE abuser of England starlet Bukayo Saka has admitted that he should have been banned “forever’’ for sending racist messages to the player after the Euro 2020 final.

Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were abused after missing penalties in England’s defeat against Italy at Wembley in July; 207 posts on social media identified as criminal, said the UK Football Policing Unit

Now one of the trolls has told the BBC’s File on 4 programme that he deserved a sanction. But he says he now believes he should have been banned “forever” because his post was “really racist”.

He told the programme that he had been supporting England during the final and was “angry” when the team lost on penalties.

He also admits he knew what he was doing was racist: “It was a big mistake,” he told the BBC programme. “I was angry and I didn’t know when Saka saw the monkey what he would feel. I saw other people were typing the same emoji and I went with them.

“I really want to apologise to Saka, it was a mistake and I will not do it again to him or any black player.”

The troll said that his account was temporarily suspended by Instagram for 24 hours after the post was reported to the platform.

The BBC programme has been investigating online racism within football to try to find out why such abuse was sent to England’s players after the Euro 2020 final.

In the moments after England’s loss, the aforementioned trio were subjected to a tirade of racial abuse online and four people were arrested.

Investigations into the hate crimes remain ongoing and police have contacted social media platforms used to target the black players to aid their inquiries.

In a statement issued to the PA news agency, The UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) said: “Following England’s defeat against Italy on Sunday a torrent of racist comments aimed at some of the team’s black players appeared on platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

“A hate crime investigation is under way by the UKFPU, with a dedicated team of investigators working their way through a large number of reports from across the country.

“So far, dozens of data applications have been submitted to social media companies and four people have been arrested by local police forces.”

Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs’ Council football policing lead, said: “The racial abuse aimed at our own players following Sunday night’s game is utterly vile and has quite rightly shocked and appalled people across the country.

“Our England team have been true role models during the tournament, conducting themselves with professionalism and dignity. I’m disgusted there are individuals out there who think it’s acceptable to direct such abhorrent abuse at them, or at anybody else.

“The UKFPU investigation is well under way and work continues to identify those responsible. We are working very closely with social media platforms, who are providing data we need to progress enquiries.”