Eni Aluko slams ‘sexist, racist haters’ after claiming her Declan Rice theory was proved right

Aluko explained why she felt Arsenal were in pole position to sign Declan Rice

Arsenal seem to have beaten Manchester City to the midfielder's signature after a deal estimated to be worth £105m was agreed on Wednesday.

During a talkSPORT interview earlier this week, Aluko said that she felt Man City were never truly in for Rice and that Mikel Arteta had used his old friend Pep Guardiola to put a bid in so that the Gunners could offer more money.

Aluko added that this was something she used to do herself when she was a director of football for Aston Villa and Angel City FC.

Following the news that City's interest has cooled off, Aluko hit back at those who chose to criticise her.

She 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."

Another post from Aluko was a response to a video with several crystal ball and laughing face emojis, saying: "My DMs (direct messages) are a bit quiet," before adding: "Looks like the clowns have run away #DeclanRice #TransferTea."

The Gunners have already made one major signing, confirming the arrival of Kai Havertz from Chelsea in a £65m deal.

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