Middlesbrough have condemned the racial abuse recently sent to Yannick Bolasie and called for action to be made to stop incidents such as this occurring.
The winger joined the Championship side on loan from Everton in January and he has made four appearances for his new side since then.
However, the 31-year-old took to social media on Wednesday to share an example of racist abuse that he had received through a direct message on Instagram.
Boro have now issued a strong statement on the incident, calling for the relevant authorities to take action to clamp down on examples such as this one.
The statement read [via GazetteLive ]: "Middlesbrough FC has re-emphasised our zero-tolerance attitude towards discrimination of all forms.
"The racial abuse directed to Yannick Bolasie on social media yesterday is vile and unacceptable, and demonstrates exactly why more has to be done to identify the perpetrators of such comments and to bring them to justice.
"The matter has been reported to the relevant authorities by both Yannick and ourselves and he has our full support.
"It is of great concern to the club that we are witnessing behaviour of this type and it cannot be allowed to continue.
"As our players said when responding to the debate on taking the knee we now need to see demonstrable actions from those who have the power to implement them rather than further gestures. Actions must speak louder than words.
"We repeat that we will not tolerate abuse of any form and any individuals who are identified to us will not only face the prospect of criminal charges but will also be banned from the Riverside Stadium.
"The MFC family stands together as one to unite against all forms of discrimination."
The winger will reach the end of his current Everton contract at the end of the 2020/21 season.
