Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy warned that online hate speech can be distressing for young football players and keep them away from the sport.
"Personally, anonymous insults from strangers aren't important to me, so by now I no longer care," he told the Bundesliga magazine in an interview to be published on Thursday.
But the Guinea international added: "Many talented players disappear from professional football following difficult periods.
"When I see people on platforms like X insulting players, I feel sorry for those colleagues because no one deserves something like that. We're just normal human beings. Criticism is okay, but insults are not."
Guirassy also called for a different approach to penalizing online abuse.
"Sometimes I wonder why some people are even allowed to use such platforms in the first place. Anyone who insults others should be banned immediately," he said.
