Manchester City winger, Jeremy Doku has become a proud father days after his plans to leave the FIFA World Cup to attend his child’s birth sparked controversy.
After consultations with medical staff, Doku was allowed to temporarily leave the Red Devils before last Sunday’s game with Iran to join his wife in London, where the couple welcomed a baby boy, Praise, the federation said in a statement.
“Jeremy received the news before yesterday’s match that the birth was imminent,” the team’s doctor, Brahim Hacene, said.
Doku had already been ruled out of Sunday’s match due to illness.
“As he had already been receiving the appropriate medical treatment for several days, he was able to fly without any medical risk to be with his family during this very special moment,” the doctor said.
“Mother, father, and baby are all doing wonderfully,” he added.
The 24-year-old had made it clear before the Red Devils’ first match that he would have wanted to be there for the birth of his first child, drawing criticism from some pundits.
A presenter on L’Equipe TV, the channel of the historic French sports newspaper, questioned the decision, saying that fathers were “useless” at childbirth, whereas hundreds of footballers would have killed to play in a World Cup.
The comments triggered an online storm, forcing L’Equipe to apologise and distance itself from them. The presenter was later suspended.