Barton DELETES tweet about Eni Aluko as she's suing to stop his false posts

Eni Aluko has confirmed that she's taken legal action against Joey Barton regarding a 'defamatory' social media post about her family.

Barton has been widely condemned - even by Rishi Sunak - for his attacks on female pundits, even going as far as invoking the names of serial killers Fred and Rose West when making vindictive remarks online.

Earlier this month, the former Man City, QPR and Newcastle midfielder took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to comment about Aluko and her family.

He wrote: 'More has come to light about poor, little Eni Aluko. Dad was a Nigerian Senator. Dodgy money. Ran to England. Massive house in Wentworth. 3 Rolls Royce’s. St Mary’s in Ascot private education. Lawyer. Race card player.'

Now, in a statement made by Aluko, the TV pundit has labelled Barton's comments as 'untrue' and 'inaccurate' before confirming legal action will be taken.

In a statement posted onto her Instagram account on Tuesday, Aluko wrote: 'Joey Barton recently published a Post on X which made untrue, inaccurate and defamatory allegations about me and my family.

'It is particularly harmful that Mr Barton involved my family in that post, suggesting my late father, a distinguished Nigerian senator, was in receipt of "dodgy money" and that I had benefitted from his corruption which paid for my lavish lifestyle including Rolls Royce cards and a private education. Mr Barton also publicly stated he knew where my family lived.

'These, and the other allegations he made in the post, are all entirely untrue and have caused me extreme harm and distress.

'These were made just days after I stated publicly that I was genuinely scared, following Mr Barton's repeated online posts targeting me using extreme violent comparisons in previous weeks.

'I have instructed Judith Thompson at Samuel's Solicitors, as well as Sara Mansoori KC and Ifeanyi Odogwu at Matrix Chambers to send a letter before action to Mr Barton setting out the true position and requesting that the post on X be taken down.

'Instead of taking down his post, Mr Barton published a post today mischaracterising my legal complaint with a photograph of my letter of claim, causing further abuse of me, and my legal advisers.

'While he has now removed that post, it has been necessary to make this statement to set out the correct position'.

Earlier on Tuesday, Barton had taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to claim that he was being sued 'for saying she’s not very good at her job'.

Barton wrote:  'Another day. Another letter from Samuel’s Solicitors. Eni Aluko now joining Jeremy Vine and suing me for saying she’s not very good at her job.

'Interesting that they both are using the same solicitors. What kind of legal firm sends you Instagram messages? Jokers'.

The post has since been deleted.

At the start of the month, Barton took aim at former Chelsea and England star Aluko and Lucy Ward, an ex-footballer turned commentator, over their coverage of the FA Cup third-round clash between Crystal Palace and Everton for ITV.

Aluko took the moral high ground following Barton's foul-mouthed tirade against her but, shortly after, Barton wrote another another post about the pundit.