Peruvian striker Paolo Guerrero terminated his contract with the César Vallejo club in his country, just less than two weeks after his arrival was announced and without having even trained with his new club, after receiving “threats” of extortion and kidnapping.
“I want to apologize. It is a decision that I have made with my family not to arrive, to terminate my contract due to all the threats that I continue to receive,” the striker who shone for a decade in clubs in Brazil and especially remembered for his time in the Corinthians.
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Guerrero, who lives in Rio de Janeiro with his family, stated that he began to receive threats after his contract with César Vallejo, an institution based in the town of Trujillo, was announced on February 2, in what was going to be his first experience in Peruvian football.
#AméricaHoy Paolo Guerrero rompió su silencio y confirma que no jugará en la Vallejo por amenazas. pic.twitter.com/KEcIqDHFou
— América (@americatv_peru) February 15, 2024
The anonymous messages speak of murders and kidnappings, in the midst of the state of emergency that governs that and other cities due to the violence of criminal gangs. “I also talked about it at home with my wife and we made the decision that she was not going to travel. “I wasn’t going to expose my family, especially with three children,” said the 40-year-old striker, the Peruvian national team’s all-time top scorer with 39 goals.
The president of César Vallejo, Richard Acuña, assured the local media RPP that they did not receive Guerrero’s request to break the relationship, although they are willing to negotiate. “We as an institution are always concerned about the well-being of Paolo and all of our footballers, they live in Trujillo and at no time have they had a security problem in the city or experienced a threat,” he said.
