Dutch-born of Ghanaian descent, Jeremie Frimpong has opened up on how he was racially abused at the tender age of 10 whiles he was playing football in Italy.

The youngster who was born in Amsterdam left the country at a very young age to live in England where he joined their youth team.

Whiles at the club, he opines that they were taken to Rome for a youth tournament when to his amazement he was racially abused. According to him, he was very surprised because he was only playing his football and had not offended anyone.

“When I was at City, I went to a tournament in Italy and their fans were making monkey chants. But I tried not to let it bother me and I still played on.

“I think it was in Rome. It was just at the end of the game and I was thinking: ‘It is a game of football, what has the colour of my skin got to do with it’?

“I thought: ‘I am just kicking the ball, what makes you so angry’?

“This must have been Under-11s. And it wasn’t just me, my team-mates were getting it as well, Frimpong, now 18 years old recounted in a pre-match interview ahead of the game against Lazio in the Uefa Europa League tomorrow.

He added, “Racism used to be a lot worse back in the day and I think it is getting better now.

“There is always going to be racism. But it has been getting better. It has been coming back a little bit, but generally, I think it has been improving.”

The highly-rated right-back is expected to be in the lineup of Celtic when they host Lazio at the Celtic Park on Thursday night.