Police have arrested a 12-year-old boy for sending racist messages to Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha on social media.
Before Palace's 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Monday (NZ time), Zaha posted screenshots of the racist abuse he had received to his social media accounts.
"Woke up to this today," Zaha tweeted with the screenshots.
One message read: "You better not score tomorrow you black c*** or I'll come to your house dressed as a ghost", along with a picture of the Ku Klux Klan.
West Midlands Police tweeted Zaha to say they would look into the abuse and hours later confirmed the arrest of a 12-year-old.
"We were alerted to a series of racist messages sent to a footballer today, and after looking into them and conducting checks, we have arrested a boy," West Midlands Police said.
"The 12-year-old from Solihull has been taken to custody. Thanks to everyone who raised it."
"Racism won't be tolerated."
The posts come just two weeks after the Premier League launched a new system to allow Premier League players to report online abuse.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson called the abuse "cowardly and despicable".
"It's been highlighted at the moment, anyway, with the Black Lives Matter movement and everyone seems to be making such an effort to eradicate this behaviour," he has told Sky Sports UK.
"It is very sad that, on the day of a game, a player wakes up to this cowardly and despicable abuse. It's right Wilf has made people aware of it and I don't think this is something you should keep quiet about.
"He wants to put off one of our best players from playing well today, but to do it in the way he has chosen is totally inexcusable."
