Arokodare was upset and angered – Wolves manager on racial abuse

Wolves manager Rob Edwards as explained the situation after Nigeria forward Tolu Arokodare was allegedly racially abused during their Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace.

The 25-year-old became a subject of racial abuse after he saw his penalty saved by Dean Henderson as Wolves went ahead to lose the fixture 1-0 away. Wolves later issued a statement to condemn the abuses directed at the Super Eagle.

Love this from Rob Edwards on Wolves fans backing striker Tolu Arokodare. #WWFC pic.twitter.com/XqqiHVn5GW

— Dan Salisbury-Jones (@dsj_itv) February 26, 2026

Speaking ahead of their fixture against Aston Villa on Friday, Edwards was asked about the situation and how Arokodare faired afterwards.

The Premier League have been in touch

“It’s been a really difficult week for him. He was upset and angered by it, understandably so,” Edwards told Wolves website.

“We’ve supported him, and I’ve had a few individual chats with him, we’ve spoken about it as a group as well, to make sure that we get around him and support him. Then he’s had overwhelming support from a lot of Wolves fans and other people reaching out, which is really good.

“The Premier League have been in touch, so there’s support there, but again, we’re talking about something that we’re having to do far too many times. There have been a number of very high-profile instances over this last week, which is really sad.

“Since I’ve been a manager, there’s been a number of times when my players have had to deal with this, and the sad thing about it is that all of them have had it before, and that’s really tough to hear. The unfortunate thing is that we can’t forget about it, because we’re going to be hearing about it again in the future, there could be someone this weekend, there probably will be, which is so wrong.”

Tolu will be asked to give statement

Edwards added: “Without knowing how certain things happen, how certain accounts are able to be opened or accessed or whatever, I know a lot of the abuse has come from accounts from maybe the other side of the world or somewhere else, and it’s difficult to track these people down.

“The authorities and the police know, Tolu will be asked to give a statement at some stage over the next few days, but it becomes difficult to stop that. Without going into the social media companies and the ones that are actually giving them the platform, and whether they can do more – I’m sure they can – then we’ll be hearing a lot more about it.”

Arokodare addressed the incident through his official Instagram page, expressing disbelief that such behavior continues in modern football.

Such racism needs consequences

“It’s still unbelievable to me that we’re playing in a time where people have so much freedom to communicate such racism without any consequences,” Arokodare wrote.

“These individuals should have no place in our game and collectively we have to take action to punish everyone who taints the sport like this, no matter who they are.”

Arokodare joined Wolves from Belgian side KRC Genk on a four-year contract, with the option of an additional year. The move marked a significant step in his career as he transitioned to the English Premier League.

He scored his first goal for Wolves in a 2-0 home victory over Everton in the third round of the EFL Cup, showing early signs of his attacking potential.