Jeremy Doku says he is “not against” the journalist who criticised his plan to leave the Belgium camp during the World Cup to attend the birth of his first child.
Doku’s wife Shireen was due to give birth during the second week of July and he told Reuters, external before the start of the tournament he intended to leave the camp to be at the birth even if his side were still in contention.
But it brought fierce criticism from L’Equipe channel presenter France Pierron, who labelled a father “completely useless” at the time of their child’s birth.
L’Equipe later apologised and said Pierron’s comments were “very far removed” from its values. The presenter also apologised but was taken off air until the end of the current season of her show.
Doku eventually missed Belgium’s 0-0 draw against Iran in the group stage to fly back to the UK for the birth of his son, Praise.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, external, Doku said he understood why some people questioned the timing of events.
“There was a lot of noise of course,” the Manchester City winger said.
“I can understand why people felt like maybe this was orchestrated because it was too perfect.
“I also saw the journalist speak about me and the situation and all the people getting at her. But I just wanted to use this video as well to really… pray over her.
“I don’t want to come at her in a way that most people did. I don’t want people to be too harsh on her. We don’t know what she has experienced. It’s her opinion.
“She got fired and all these things. I never want this for a person. I’m not against her. I’m not angry at her or anything. She just said her opinion.”
Doku played 86 minutes of Belgium’s opening 1-1 draw with Egypt in Group G of the World Cup before missing their next game, with his absence explained as illness.
A Belgium statement later said, external that the 24-year-old travelled to London to be with his wife “with the approval of and accompanied by one of our team doctors”.