José Mourinho is a coach who keeps his word.
On Tuesday, the Portuguese technician gave his striker Afena-Gyan a pair of shoes he had been promised if he scored a brace, which he did against Cagliari in his second appearance only with the team first.
The “Special One” therefore summoned the very young 18-year-old striker to give him the gift worth 800 euros.
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Touched by this attention, the Ghanaian did not need to be asked to discover the reward.
We see him moved in a video posted on his official account but when the striker opens the packaging, an unidentified man asks him if there are "bananas inside."
(at 0'35 '' on the video)
With racist slippage in Italian football increasing in recent months, the video was very quickly the subject of an article by the Roman edition of
Corriere dello Sport
which described the scene as "racist slippage."
The controversy then spread like wildfire on social networks until the player's development on Wednesday.
According to him, it was not at all a racist remark but a joke which he and certain people at the club have maintained since his arrival in Rome:
"I want to assure you all that I have no Case was offended by the substantive comment made in the video, and I truly believe there was no racist intent.
From day one at the club, I was welcomed into the family by everyone, who joked with me like everyone in the family.
Because they see that I eat a lot of bananas, it became something we laughed at sometimes, and I think the comment was another example of that. ”