Last summer, Manchester United deemed 24-year-old locally-born striker Danny Welbeck to be surplus to requirements. Arsenal snapped him up for £16 million, and since then, we've waited for the inevitable: Welbeck returning to Old Trafford to score against his boyhood club. It happened in the F.A. Cup on March 9. The goal was ugly for United, but sweet for Welbeck and the Gunners.
Quite predictably, Manchester United fans starting lighting up Twitter, hurling insults at their former striker. The worst of it came from a 15-year-old from Salisbury, England, who tweeted this at Welbeck after he scored (VERY NSFW language incoming):
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The tweet from user @AngeIsLeftFoot (a boring nod to United transfer bust Angel di Maria's) has been deleted along with his account, but many other users retweeted it to expose him. Social media specialists within the Manchester police force got wind of it, and after further investigation last week, an arrest was made on Thursday. Wiltshere police told reporters: "A 15-year-old male from the Salisbury area was arrested on the evening of March 12 on suspicion of racial abuse."
The teenager's been released on bail until April 13. Manchester United have yet to respond to the incident.
In 2012, a 21-year-old British student was jailed for 56 days after posting racist tweets at Fabrice Muamba. This 15-year-old Manchester United fan is in serious trouble, and rightly so: Kick racism out of the game, guys.
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[via Daily Mail]
