Mark Sampson has been accused of bullying and making an inappropriate racist comment to Eni Aluko about the Ebola virus, and in defending himself appears to have contradicted an earlier statement he gave.

According to the original accusations, Sampson allegedly told Aluko to make sure her Nigerian relatives didn’t bring the Ebola virus to an England game at Wembley. He denies the allegations and two investigations have cleared him of wrongdoing, but FA executives are facing a parliamentary inquiry over those investigations.

When previously asked about whether he’d ever talked about Ebola with Aluko before, Sampson told the inquiry about a conversation where Aluko told the England boss that she had once been called “Ebola” instead of “Eniola” by a cold-caller.

However, according to new quotes in the Evening Standard, he now doesn’t remember ever talking to her about Ebola. He responded to questions about the topic by saying: “I can’t remember any particular conversation.

“What I made clear was that, again, it’s not right for me to go into all the details of a confidential investigation. And, in relation to the allegations that were made against me, I’ve answered them very clearly.”

Fellow England international Lianne Sanderson has spoken out in support of Eni in the past, and Anita Asante also told BBC Sport that she felt singled out in the way she was dropped from the squad.

The backing of Aluko’s teammates, as well as Sampson’s contradictions here, raise questions that the parliamentary inquiry will hopefully eventually help to bring answers to.