Wolves coach Rob Edwards and Sunderland manager Regis Le Press have condemned racist abuse of players

Arukudar and Mondel were among four Premier League players subjected to racist abuse on social media last weekend, with Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri and Chelsea’s Wesley Fofana also similarly targeted.

The UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) is investigating the incidents and said it would “do everything in its power to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.”

Police Scotland also said they were investigating after Rangers players Emmanuel Fernandes and Jeddy Gassama shared screenshots of racist abuse directed at them on their social media accounts after Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Livingston.

Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out said reports of online abuse had reached record levels, increasing by a third compared to the same point last season.

Mike Ankers, deputy director of the UKFPU, told BBC Radio 5 Live that the police unit had an increase of about 115% in the number of reports.

“I don’t really know why, but I repeat – we don’t want to accept that,” Le Press added.

“We have to have a clear position and I think that is the case here at Sunderland, we want to stand up for values ​​and when someone or a group of people wants to threaten those values ​​it is important to respond.”

Edwards added: “There have been a number of these cases, and they have been very prominent over the last week, which is really sad.

“I’ve been a coach and manager many times when my players have had this happen and the sad thing about it is that they’ve all been there before.

“They say, ‘I’m fine, I’ve had it before.’ I think that’s what’s hard. It’s hard to hear.”

Edwards said Arukudar trained this week and, despite being affected by the racist abuse, was “okay to play” in his team’s home match against Aston Villa on Friday (20:00 GMT).

However, Le Press said Mundle “could be out for a few weeks or months” due to the injury and will miss Sunderland’s match against Bournemouth on Saturday (12:30).

In response to Fofana and Mejbri’s abuse at the weekend, a spokesperson for Meta, which owns platforms including Instagram, told BBC Sport: “No one should be subjected to racist abuse, and we remove this content when we find it.”

He added: “Nothing will stop racist behavior overnight, but we will continue to work to protect our community from abuse and cooperate with police investigations.”