The girlfriend of England footballer Jack Grealish has said she was sent 200 death threats a day as she faced a barrage of abuse on social media.

Sasha Attwood said social media is “toxic” and it is “really sad” that teenagers as young as 13 are growing up thinking it is OK to send abuse online.

Ms Atwood, who made the comments in a video on her YouTube channel, said she keeps things private and off social media “because people are mean”.

I never realised how bad it actually was, and the scary thing is it's young girls

In the video, highlighted by The Sun newspaper, Ms Attwood said: “This whole thing since it’s come out has just shown me that people are literally so mean.

“Genuinely, I was receiving, like, 200 death threats a day. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that.

“So many messages, every single day, and I still get them now, all day every day: ‘I hope you die’, ‘I hope you get cancer and die’, ‘I hope your whole family die’, ‘I hope the next time when you’re in the car you crash it and die’, ‘I hope after Wembley you die’.

“I never realised how bad it actually was, and the scary thing is it’s young girls.

“I’d go on these girls’ accounts who have sent me stuff and they’re literally like 13, 14, and it’s so sad.

“I try and put it down to age, but then I think I was never like that at that age. I never sent a message like that.

“I just think it’s so toxic, social media, and it’s really sad that these generations are growing up thinking that it’s OK to say things like that.”

The Sun said Instagram has launched an investigation following Ms Attwood’s remarks.

The newspaper also said that TikTok confirmed it had removed comments highlighted by The Sun, and added that its community guidelines make clear this behaviour is not acceptable.