Cole, a 24-year-old midfielder, was "badly shaken" by the threats and took them seriously, but did not want to involve the police, the Sun quoted an unnamed team insider as saying.

Two messages warned he would have his throat cut while a third carried a sick drawing of a bloodspattered footballer, it said.

The hate-filled letters, each personally addressed to Cole, arrived over the course of two days at the Premiership champions' training ground in Cobham, Surrey, south-east England, the report continued.

The first was sent with a football playing card. "It said in blood-red ink: 'You are going to have your legs broken, you're going to have your arms broken and you're going to have your throat cut," the mass-circulation daily added.

"Joe took it really seriously, but he did not want to call in the police so he ripped it up and threw it in the bin," the insider explained.