Vieira has said he will speak to the midfielder internally
Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira has said he will speak to midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate over his message of support to international teammate Idrissa Gueye.
Kouyate has faced intense backlash following a message posted to Instagram supporting Gueye in light of news that broke on Monday, claiming the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder missed their game at the weekend as he didn’t want to play in a shirt that had his number in rainbow colours.
Players across France wore special rainbow shirts ahead of the upcoming International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia on Tuesday May 17.
Although this wasn’t confirmed, PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino said Gueye had missed the game due to “personal reasons” and following the news, Kouyate appeared to controversially show support from his international teammate.
Posting a series of photos of the pair to his Instagram story, Kouyate captioned the posts, calling him: “a real man,” as well saying “we do everything with you, my brother.”
When asked about the posts ahead of Palace’s game against Everton on Thursday, Vieira confirmed that he and the club “are against any form of discrimination” and that he will speak to the 32-year-old privately.
“There is a lot of noise. I’ve been reading the news. I’ve not see any statement from PSG or the player. Before coming to any conclusion we have to be clear,” he said.
“As a football club, we are against any form of discrimination.
“If it is the case, I will speak to Cheikhou about it. It will be an in-house conversation.”
Question from @iamAlexHowell BBC who informed PV that he had a colleague confirm with PSG that Idrissa Gueye missed the game due to the rainbow shirts.
"If it is the case, I will speak to Cheikhou about it. It will be an in-house conversation."#cpfc
— Andrew McSteen (@awmcs) May 18, 2022
Vieira did however speak about the bravery of Blackpool forward Jake Daniels, who became the first male professional footballer to come out as gay in the UK since Justin Fashanu in 1990.
The former Arsenal midfielder was pleased to see the unwavering support the 17-year-old has received since his announcement on Monday.
He said: “It takes a lot of courage and personality to come out.
“The support he has received from football and society in general has been really positive, it shows the world is improving.”
"It takes a lot of courage and personality to come out."
"The support he has received from football and society in general has been really positive, it shows the world is improving."
Patrick Vieira praises Jake Daniels ❤️🌈
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 18, 2022
Other members of the Senegal national team have also defended Gueye
Kouyate wasn’t the only person to post messages of support for Gueye, with several other members of the Senegal national team posting pictures of him with captions defending him.
Leicester City’s Nampalys Mendy and Watford’s Ismaila Sarr both have seemingly since deleted their posts, while Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly has joined in the defence of Gueye.
Related links:
- Cheikhou Kouyate criticised for backing Idrissa Gueye in rainbow numbers row
- Josh Cavallo hails Jake Daniels’ bravery and says he is ‘very proud’
- Blackpool’s Jake Daniels publicly comes out as gay
