Her claims centre on male pundits blocking opportunities for women in the women’s game.

Despite apologising for her initial statements featuring Ian Wright last April, the row reignited the feud by taking aim at former Premier League footballer Nedum Onuoha on the 90s Baby Show podcast.

She vented her frustration at Wright and Onuoha being chosen to work as pundits for the Lionesses’ Euro 2025 final win over Spain last year, also said that the women’s game needed to be “gatekept”.

Now the pundit has backed down and revealed she is stepping back from work.

She said: “I think in the UK… it’s a very toxic space for me. And I’m fighting now to just even have an opinion.

“There is a feeling that I can’t say anything without the instant backlash that comes with the fact people have already decided they don’t like you.”

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She added: “I’m a fighter, I’m a resilient person, and I go ‘no, I want to say my opinion, ‘ but I don’t feel welcome.

“That was my point. I don’t have skin in the game anymore, I’m not trying to get people out of the way so I can get in.

“You’ve got to recognise the environments you can thrive and really do your thing. I just don’t feel (that in) the UK at this moment in time.

“You never know what will happen in the future, but I’ll always be passionate about women’s football.”

The admission came just days after Simon Jordan had ripped into Aluko, insisting she’s not “particularly enlightening, illuminating, engaging or charismatic” while sitting next to the former England Lionesses star.

Speaking on talkSPORT on Tuesday morning, Aluko sought to clarify her controversial comments.

She said: “I think it’s more about clarifying and saying, ‘look, I think 270 caps represent experience and the insight you can bring to the game’. What I wasn’t saying is that 270 caps justifies an instant pick, of course, you need a skillset to be a pundit.

“The point I was trying to make is, that in women’s football, my opinion is that where there’s a choice, I want to see that level of experience on the main panel for women’s football.”

She added: “That’s not at the exclusion of Nedum Onuoha or Ian Wright, I’m saying, can we have a situation where women are the main faces of women’s sport and then the men play more of a supporting role?

“That might be…Ian Wright could do 10-minute hits before the game, a bit of colour, bit of context, then back to the main studio and bang, you’ve got the faces of the game, whoever the three female pundits are.”

Jordan did admit he understood where Aluko was coming from.

However, the former Palace owner then proceeded to criticise the ex-footballer’s punditry skills – insisting that she isn’t the expert she thinks she is, despite the pair being sat directly next to each other.