Former England footballer Eni Aluko in court over ‘defamatory’ tweets by Joey Barton

Former Chelsea and England footballer Eni Aluko outside the Royal Courts of Justice, central London (Lucy North/PA) - (PA Wire)

Football pundit Eniola Aluko has attended the first hearing in her High Court libel claim against Joey Barton.

The former England women’s player claims that two posts made by Mr Barton in January on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, are defamatory.

At a hearing on Thursday, a judge was asked to consider the “natural and ordinary meaning” of the posts and whether they were innuendos made about Ms Aluko being dishonest and hypocritical. Mr Barton denies making defamatory remarks.

Gervase de Wilde, for Ms Aluko, who attended the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, said readers would take the meaning of the posts as that the broadcaster is “laughable and unreasonable”.

Joey Barton denies making defamatory remarks (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)

However, William McCormick KC, for Mr Barton, described the claims against the ex-Bristol Rovers manager as “strained, forced and unreasonable”.

The hearing before Mr Justice Lavender concluded on Thursday and a decision in writing will be given at a later date.

During his career, Barton played for Manchester City and QPR, and went on to manage Bristol Rovers before being sacked in October 2023.