Before we start bashing any other media publication, we would like to apologize for being part of the circus that has led to this debate.
We are referring to the Lucas Perez incident where the forward chose not warm up during West Ham United’s game vs Everton this weekend.
Or so everyone thought.
Video clips during the game showed Perez nodding his head in disagreement when asked to warm up and this immediately infuriated the fans who urged the club to release him with immediate effect.
And it was not only the West Ham fans who were abusing the player on social media.
Fans from various other clubs had joined in claiming that Lucas Perez was ruining the sanctity of the beautiful game.
Immediately this issue was picked up by the mainstream media and Lucas Perez was the centre of debate ever since the Everton vs West Ham match got over.
Now though the player has come out to clarify the confusion and in doing so has released an official statement.
Here’s what Perez said:
“Given the false information spread by the media that has affected my image, I am obliged to explain the only truth: I have never ever refused to warm up in my whole career, let alone play a match.
“In my current club, the players on the bench warm up in a series of 3 to 5 minutes, in continuous rotation.
“In the moment that Marko got injured, I was on the bench after warming up.
“The coach called me to go out to play, however having realised that it was faster to substitute Antonio in, who at that moment was warming up he changed his decision.
“The images that have been misinterpreted correspond to a talk with the goalkeeper’s coach, in which I never refused to warm up and explained what happened.
“As a professional, I accept the decision and I will continue working hard to have as many minutes as I can.”
And if this was not enough, even West Ham United’s manager Manuel Pellegrini came out to defend Lucas Perez claiming that the forward did not refuse to warm up.
“When Marko was injured, I called Lucas because he was doing a warm-up,” Pellegrini said.
“But then I saw he was sat on the bench and Antonio was working and ready, that’s why I brought him on instead, rather than waiting for Lucas to warm up again.”
Since we also covered this story yesterday, we would like to apologize to Lucas Perez as well as the West Ham United fans.
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