Watford captain Troy Deeney believes the system in place to deal with racism in soccer is inadequate and needs stiffer punishments to strike it out of the game.

Currently, a game can only be abandoned if fans are warned to end racist chanting twice previously. The 31-year-old striker wants a 'one-strike' policy to be put in place.

"Is that a good way of tackling the problem?" Deeney said on BBC Radio 4. "Are we going to say now that it's OK to do it three times?"

Only weeks after England's black players were bombarded with abuse in Bulgaria during a EURO 2020 qualifier, another high-profile example of the racist taunting black players deal with on a regular basis occurred this weekend in Italy.

Brescia and Italy striker Mario Balotelli was the target of a barrage of racist chanting at Hellas Verona during a Serie A match on Sunday, which led the 29-year-old to threaten to walk off the pitch.

Deeney says it's a pain he knows all too well and that his social media accounts are cesspools of abuse.

"There will be at least six to 10 comments I have to take down," Deeney said. "It's more on pictures of your kids, pictures of your partner. People are putting 'you black such and such', 'you monkey emoji', this, that and the other, or bananas and stuff like that. It's very difficult to ignore it."

A native of Birmingham, Deeney is in his 10th season with the Hornets. He's been out of action since late August after undergoing knee surgery.

Watford visits Norwich City on Friday.