With the amount of abuse Hector Bellerin already receives online and in person, the Arsenal defender believes an openly gay player in international football would face too much backlash to handle.
"It is impossible that anybody could be openly gay in football," Bellerin said, per Matthew Syed of The Times.
"Some fans are not ready," he added. "When it happened in rugby with the Welsh player [Gareth Thomas], people respected the situation. The fans respected his decision. In football, the culture is different. It can be very personal, very nasty, particularly for players from the opposition team.