Visit Rwanda deal strikes wrong note for Arsenal as sports don't care where cash is from

Visit Rwanda. A heartless order to frightened asylum seekers from the government of a nation that once prided itself on its compassion.

Visit Rwanda. A slogan on the shirt sleeves of a club that is pocketing £10million-a-year to promote tourism in a country whose human rights record continues to come under scrutiny.

Having renewed their deal last year, Arsenal - along with Paris St Germain - remain enthusiastic advocates of the beauties of Rwanda.

It probably won’t be long before one of the current players is echoing the words of former Gunner, David Luiz, from 2019 after a visit to Rwanda.

“I’m going to recommend all my friends spend their holidays in Rwanda.” Of course he did.

Maybe he would recommend asylum seekers spend time there, although they are unlikely to be staying at the five-star Singita Kwitonda Lodge where David laid his head.

This government’s appalling plan to use Rwanda as some sort of clearing house for those seeking asylum in this country does not add an extra layer to the debate about whether the sponsorship deal with Arsenal is appropriate.

But it is a reminder of a commercial hook-up that must leave some fans feeling uneasy - to say the least.

When this government policy was announced, it was decried by Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrants director.

“Banishing people to Rwanda, which has an appalling human rights record, is the same as the UK tearing up its commitment to give people who need asylum sanctuary.”

But Arsenal, of course, is a club far from alone when it comes singing commercial deals that should not sit right with a lot of supporters - but are met with a blind eye.

Blimey, it seems the entire Newcastle United fan base was (and definitely is now) quite