Anti-racism campaigners have called for action to be taken against Manchester City star Bernardo Silva over a tweet aimed at one of his teammates.
Silva, 25, yesterday tweeted a childhood picture of fellow Blues star and friend Benjamin Mendy next to a controversial cartoon character who is the brand logo of Spanish chocolate company, Conguitos.
The message above the images said "Guess who?" in what it is believed was intended as a joke between the two pals.
However it was swiftly deleted after a backlash on the social media site.
The FA yesterday said they were aware of it and would be looking into it.
They have today written to Silva for his observations before deciding whether to take it any further.
Mendy himself did not take offence replying to it with a number of a laughing and clapping emojis and the message "1-0. For you will see."
Silva, who scored a hat-trick in Saturday's 8-0 mauling of Watford, then said in another post: "Can’t even joke with a friend these days... You guys... "
However British football's leading racism campaign group have condemned the Portugese's post for featuring a "racist stereotype" and say action must be taken.
In a strongly worded statement Kick It Out said today: "We are extremely disappointed to see the tweet posted by Bernardo Silva, which has since been deleted.
"Racist stereotypes are never acceptable as 'banter', and we're shocked that someone who is a role model to millions has failed to understand the discriminatory nature of his post.
"The FA have been notified and we believe that retrospective action should be taken, including mandatory education - which is vital to challenge offensive behaviour such as this."
City have so far declined to comment but sources have said the pair are best mates, a friendship which spans back from before their time at the club to when they were at Monaco together, and the tweet was clearly an in-joke with absolutely no offence intended.
Read today's top stories here
The Silva post comes after initial meetings were held between the FA, Premier League, the EFL and Twitter following a series of cases of online abuse aimed at black players since the start of the season
Manchester United's Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford are among the players who have been targeted, along with Chelsea's Tammy Abraham and Kurt Zouma.
The FA described the meeting as "productive and positive."
