WATCH: 'Players make themselves a target' Kitson speaks out on Sterling incident

This is an issue that no one wants to see or talk about, but racism in football is a topic that is being discussed by everyone at the moment. It's a cancer that's been in the game for some time and it came to an ugly head on the weekend when Manchester City and England star Raheem Sterling suffered some disgusting abuse from a section of the Chelsea supporters during their clash on Saturday. The forward was hounded by the Blues fans after going to pick up the ball in front of the Shed End and he deserves an enormous amount of credit for rising above it, in what must've been an absolutely horrific moment for him on what was his 24th birthday. It was a shocking sequence of events and he later had his say on it on Instagram:

A number of players and people within the game have had their say on this terrible subject and one in particular that's caught attention is that of former Reading and Stoke City forward, Dave Kitson. Speaking to talkSPORT, Kitson claimed that "we have a duty of care to ourselves as footballers, to be careful with social media", "I do believe players make themselves a target." He doesn't condone the abuse suffered by Sterling in the slightest but he believes that his social media presence has led to him becoming a target.. It's very controversial stuff and it's prompted responses from big names such as Rio Ferdinand & Tyrone Mings - with the latter saying he won't be doing his scheduled interview with talkSPORT which was due to take place today:

See what Dave Kitson had to say below: (Video courtesy of @talkSPORT)