GARY NEVILLE has called for Premier League players to undergo diversity inclusion training after Edinson Cavani’s social media post.
The Manchester United striker replied to a friend on Instagram calling him ‘negrito’ after congratulating him for inspiring the Red Devils to a dramatic 3-2 comeback win over Southampton.
The Red Devils backed the 33-year-old and said the word had different connotations in South America, where the Uruguayan is from.
But Cavani could now face a three-game ban if the FA deem he used discriminatory or racist language.
He has sincerely apologised deeming it an ‘affectionate greeting to a friend’ and was adamant he had no idea it could be used as a derogatory term.
And Neville believes the best way to prevent any similar incidences is by educating players.
He told Sky Sports: “We hear the words education and training and yet football is still incapable of putting a curriculum in place for its players, for its members, for its fans that is compulsory.
“Why is Edinson Cavani not subjected to diversity inclusion training and education the minute he comes into this country?
“If we truly are going to root out discrimination in this country it has to become part of the curriculum, in school and within sport.
“Every employer in the country has to enter into a diversity inclusion training programme and implement it and execute it.
“Still to this day, in football, we have banners being held, players taking the knee, wave flags in the air and wear badges on our chest, where is the education and training. This could have been prevented.
“We are still going to continue to see incidents like this where Cavani reposted that Instagram story didn’t have a clue that he was doing anything wrong. And within 24 hours he is having to apologise for it.
“The Premier League, the FA, the EFL, the LMA and the PFA. They are all funded, they all have lots of money, put a diversity inclusion set of protocols and processes in place that are fixed that all five buy up to.
“We have five different slogans (BLM, Show Racism the Red Card, No Room for Racism, Kick it Out, Players Together) and they cannot even come together on a singular campaign on something they should be one on. At least collaborate on important issues that are societal.
“Drive it out of the game, root out discrimination and it has to be done by education and training.
“That means players and everyone that takes part in this game, including us, to bi-weekly or monthly training on diversity inclusion and why people take offence to certain words and why some people don’t. If it offends someone it is a problem.”
Former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, Cavani’s strike partner for Uruguay, famously received an eight-match ban for using the same word in his onfield clash with United’s Patrice Evra in 2011.
The FA launched a new crackdown on discriminatory conduct in August, following on the bans for social media comments issued to Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva and Tottenham’s Dele Alli.
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