West Ham forward Lucas Perez has hit out at the media and denied reports he refused to go on as a substitute against Everton.
The Irons secured a first Premier League win under new boss Manuel Pellegrini at Goodison Park on Sunday, during which television replays appeared to show Perez, who had just finished his warm-up, not wanting to enter the field of play after Marko Arnautovic had sustained a knee injury in the second half.
Perez said in a statement posted on Twitter: “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.”
Speaking after the match, Pellegrini had looked to play down the incident, saying Perez had finished his warm-up and had sat back down while Michail Antonio was just completing his so was ready to go on immediately.
— Lucas Pérez (@LP10oficial) September 17, 2018
The Spaniard, who was signed from Arsenal during the summer transfer window, added: “In my current club the players on the bench warm up in series of three to five minutes, in continuous rotation. In the moment that Marko was injured, I was on the bench after warming up.
“The coach called me to go out to play. However having realised it was faster to substitute Antonio in, who at the moment was warming up, he changed his decision.
“The images that have misinterpreted correspond to a talk with the goalkeeping 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.”