Matheus Pereira has hit back at suggestions that he “isn’t committed” to West Bromwich Albion by releasing a statement detailing that he feels “disrespected”.
The Baggies playmaker was responding to the comments of his manager Valerien Ismael, who confirmed that Pereira wished to leave the club following the friendly win at Birmingham City on Saturday. Pereira hasn’t played in a single pre-season match, ahead of the new season, though he has been at the training ground keeping himself fit and has held talks with Ismael previously.
Now, though, Pereira has released a statement via his social media channels.
In full, it reads…
“I remained silent and was not going to address anything until after the transfer window out of respect for the fans and my teammates, however after being called ‘not committed’ I felt extremely disrespected as a professional, I’ve been living off football since I was 12 years old, I chose to give up family time and ordinary fun to chase after a dream of a better future for myself and those around me.
“No one has ever seen an interview in which I bad mouthed the club, or anyone associated with the club, or even that I wanted to leave the club by any means.
“That’s because I have character and I have respect for the club as it opened its doors for me when I needed and believed in me. Dedication has never lacked and I have been committed in the last two seasons.
“We fought our way back to the Premier League and we fought to stay in the Premier League, and I also know that every single professional fought for those goals just as I did.
“It’s extremely wrong for anybody to say I’m ‘not committed’ since I train and I commit as I normally would and give 100% every single day. I think it’s low to try and degrade my image and my professionalism in this manner.
“I don’t want to leave the club through the back door, that was never my plan or intention, quite the contrary. I want the clu to be adequately rewarded for believing in me and supporting me for two seasons.
“Three weeks ago I received an offer that would change my life and my family’s life forever. I come from humble beginnings, slowly but surely I have been building myself up and achieving things with a lot of hard work and dedication. To achieve financial freedom at 25 would be unimaginable.
“I want to leave, I want to seek new experiences, but want to do this in a fair and correct manner. I will be forever grateful to WBA, to its fans and to every single professional who works at the club and who welcomed me with open arms.
“To those who cheered me for these past two seasons, you’re part of my history! I’m a professional and I’ll always respect that.
“Matheus Pereira.”
The club in question is not thought to be West Ham but in fact Saudi Arabian outfit Al Hilal. They are thought to have offered him substantial wages which are reported to be £139,000 per week to move his family to the middle east. However, Al Hilal transfer offer of £12.8m falls way short of the £21m West Brom want.
West Ham has not made a formal bid for the Brazilian who remained an option on loan but never the main target.
Wave goodbye to that one then. Good luck if they are going to pay him that.
No our main target in that position doesnt want to sign for us either….
Who is then, and please don’t say Lingard as he is not coming to us?
We already have him….Said Benhrama
Coventry
He wont be coming to West Ham then.
I suppose we’re waiting on Jesse Lingard!?
Too precious for us. We can do without another Nigel Reo Coker.
Looks a good player to me, chipped in with 11 goals and 6 assists last season, definitely what we could do with.
Helpful statement, another one to be avoided!
Interesting that he mentions achieving “financial freedom” at the age of 25, rather than, say, winning trophies. Sounds like he might be a bit of a handful. It might explain why, if it’s indeed the case, Moyes is a bit reluctant.
He comes from a very very poor background. He provides for extended family, I can understand where he is coming from.
So can i !
Whilst I appreciate the sentiment am I to believe that he is going to struggle to provide on the £60k-£70k a week (more if he’s got a good agent) he’ll get off a PL club? It’s just greed. He’ll have financial freedom regardless. Best he goes off to Saudi if that’s attitude.
Benrahma’s better anyway and he’ll show that with a run of games.
Fantastic use of copy and paste Sean!
You and Dave seem to be in competition with each other! Who can insult journalism the most by stealing other peoples work!
At least Hugh has some originality and writes his own stuff (albeit you need to decipher the message)
Not even a bid from Us 🤣🤣🤣
Helpful statement, another one to be avoided!
Agree with Alan
Greedy idiot who will do an Arnie and was his years just for the money. Will get bored scoring 2 goals a game and no competition .
Let him. I bet his family will love sitting in the desert all the time.
Good riddance.
My instincts were not to go for him.
Maybe he’s been pressured into signing for this backwater club by his family, because of the high salary.
Maybe it’s tax free? He’d have a hard time matching the take home pay in Europe for several years even if does well from this point.
I won’t judge the guy, although does seem a bit short sighted career wise in the long run.
I can only imagine the endorsements that will come with Footie in Saudi. Salary isn’t everything, but playing on the big stage has its advantages.
Good riddance.