Eni Aluko claims Joey Barton 'hates himself' in new interview as heated feud continues

Former Chelsea and England striker Eni Aluko has claimed that Joey Barton 'hates himself' in a new interview.

In April, Aluko won the first part of her libel case against Barton after accusing the former Manchester City midfielder of making defamatory comments towards her on social media.

A high court judge ruled that the comments made by Barton, which targeted both Aluko and her family, were mainly statements of opinion and were defamatory.

She then subsequently claimed that her broadcasting career had 'taken a hit' due to Barton's tirades against her, and added: "What the Joey Bartons, and some male football fans, want is for women to get off the TV."

Aluko was back on television screens this summer, covering the Women's Euro 2025 tournament as a pundit for ITV.

Barton, meanwhile, has made several demeaning posts on social media surrounding the tournament.

Despite his disdain, however, he did watch at least part of the final that England won, as he described the penalty shootout victory over Spain as 'borderline embarrassing'.

This week, Aluko - who is the Lionesses' joint-seventh all-time goalscorer - appeared on the 'Obi One' podcast, hosted by former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel.

One of the topics discussed on the podcast was Barton and his social media postings, with Aluko stating: "I think Joey Barton hates himself.

"I think he hates where he's at in life. I think he hates the fact he can't be a pundit. Which is not my fault. I'm not stopping him from being a pundit.

"I think he hates the fact that, you know, maybe his coaching career is over. Again, not my fault. So I think there's something going on there, in his own head, that he's projecting. So that's the reality that we're dealing with.

"I think we're dealing with someone who's really, really struggling, genuinely thinks he should be in the mix. But you're not in the mix, probably, because you've done a lot of things that people just don't want to be involved with you."