Wolves have issued a statement confirming that a member of their academy was one of the players filmed fighting a team-mate during an England under-16 camp in Turkey last year. The video, captured by various team-mates, has re-emerged in recent days and garnered millions of views on social media.
A one-minute clip of the fight showed a boy wearing official England training gear grab a phone from another boy who was lying on the bed of a hotel room. The two can be seen grappling over the phone before punches and kicks were thrown. Several of the pair's Young Lions teammates filmed the incident, and encouraged the escalating confrontation.
The Championship club have insisted that the footage only captures part of a 'broader sequence of events'. The Championship club revealed that their academy player had been "subjected to repeated behaviour that caused him significant distress" prior to the altercation. A statement read: "Wolves are aware of footage from a previous England youth camp involving one [of] the club's academy players which has recently resurfaced on social media. "The club is satisfied that the widely shared footage captures only part of a much broader sequence of events and does not reflect the full circumstances surrounding the incident, during which the young player had been subjected to repeated behaviour that caused him significant distress.
Wolves also expressed disappointment at those continuing to circulate the footage and condemned attempts to identify, threaten and abuse him. The statement added that instances of abuse and threats had been reported to the police. Wolves affirmed they would continue to support the academy player involved.
The FA stated that the issue had already been handled internally and that no further action would be taken.