West Ham winger, Kudus Mohammed has apologised for his behavior in the match with Tottenham, blaming his violent behaviour on negative social media comments received after Ghana’s loss in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifiers against Sudan.
According to Mohamed Kudus, his preparation for the Tottenham match had been “mentally and physically challenging because he had travelled for a midweek international fixture and had received various negative comments on social media.
He referred to his work within the community and in his home country of Ghana, stressing how he tried to be a role model.”
In a letter to the independent regulatory commission, stated that he was deeply embarrassed by his behaviour in the 20 seconds following his foul on Micky van de Ven.
“He accepted that he had lost his cool and said that his behaviour was out of character. Although he could not recall the events clearly, but having viewed the footage, he felt that MvdV [Micky van de Ven] had exaggerated the incident as there was minimal contact from him.
The Ghanaian international accepted that he should not have pushed PS [Pape Sarr] in the face and that his action merited a red card. However, he did not injure anyone, or use force.
Kudus following this incident has received a five-game ban (an initial 3-game ban and has been slapped with another 2-game ban) and fined £60,000.