There has been plenty of controversy surrounding Wayne Hennessey this week.

A photo emerged in January of the Crystal Palace goalkeeper appearing to make a Nazi salute during a team meal - raising his right arm upwards and putting his land hand above his mouth.

After the image was uploaded to Instagram by teammate Max Meyer, Hennessey pleaded his ignorance and claimed he was 'trying to shout at and to catch the attention of the waiter.'

However, that didn't prevent an investigation from the Football Association, who concluded that Henessey showed a 'lamentable degree of ignorance' about Adolf Hitler and Nazism. 

The findings of the enquiry were then put to Palace manager Roy Hodgson earlier in the week, with the former England boss explaining that Hennessey is 'desperate' to learn about the topic.

Hodgson: Hennessey is 'desperate' to learn

"He is actually very desperate now to learn as much as he can," Hodgson explained. "I don't quite know what the young generation is learning about it.

"What is important in that report is that they made it perfectly clear they found Wayne a very honest and kind and good individual.

"I've no idea about the level of knowledge in relation to the Holocaust, the Second World War, in other clubs or even in our club. Together - the club and Kick It Out - we will sort it out."

Merson's comment on Sky Sports

The citation of a lack of knowledge isn't something that has sat well with everybody and that clearly includes Paul Merson, who criticised Hennessey live on Soccer Saturday.

The panel were discussing Watford's decision to appeal Troy Deeney's red card - a move that Merson defended in light of the Hennessey case.

“You might as well appeal it. You might as well is you’re not getting an extra game," the former Arsenal man remarked.

“If that lad [Hennessey] is going in saying he doesn’t know who Hitler is, then you’ve got every chance.

“He could’ve said ‘I’ve tickled him’. If he was in after him, he could have got away with that."

It's clear that Merson feels the FA have opened themselves to appeals which, in his opinion, should not be accepted in the first place.

The suggestion that Hennessey is so uneducated on such a heinous epoch of human history is certainly concerning and something that should continue to be taught worldwide.

Whether or not the reasoning for the salute is accepted by people or not, it remains paramount that the meaning of such gestures and iconography are understood in their abhorrence.

Hodgson continued to say during his press conference: "We and Kick It Out work very closely together and between us I think we will be looking for a solution in the case of this one individual.

"But I would guess that this might be a subject which goes beyond one individual. We might be highlighting with Wayne that it's actually rife throughout football."