OPINION
As a general rule of thumb, the post match press conference of a game in which you just scored your first hat trick for a club isn’t the best place to inadvertently fuel the bonfire of rumours surrounding your exit from said club.
Unfortunately, nobody told Ayoze Perez.
The Spaniard was in stunning form on Saturday, hitting three past a helpless Southampton side, but did himself no favours in the aftermath when he gave a worryingly vague answer on his Toon future.
Perez gave an interview in Spain not too long ago, as reported by the Chronicle, in which he suggested that he could be tempted to go back to his home country soon.
When asked to elaborate on this at the weekend, and break his silence to the UK media, Perez will have done little to put fans’ minds at ease, as reported in the Chronicle.
He said: “Obviously it was translated quite different to what I meant. I just said that in summer there is going to be options. That means I have done something well.
“But what I tried to say was I’ll be up to hearing what is coming, but it doesn’t mean I am going to leave 100 per cent.
“I can hear what is coming for me, what they offer for me, and that’s it; but it doesn’t mean I am going to leave 100 per cent at the end of the season. It is going to be a difficult decision. It depends on a lot of things.”
The £45,000-a-week forward [Spotrac] was clearly just trying to make things better, but given the flaky nature for his answer and his refusal to rule out an exit, he might have dug himself in even further.
That will be heartbreaking to Newcastle fans, who are fully aware of what he brings to the side.
After a pretty average start to the season, he has really kicked on in recent weeks, and looked unplayable at the weekend.
Losing him now would be a crushing blow.