Football
Tom Marshall, Mexico correspondent 5y

Peralta: Kidnapping threat led to Chivas move

Oribe Peralta's controversial move to Chivas from bitter Liga MX rivals Club America was partially caused by a kidnapping threat towards his family, the striker revealed on Wednesday.

Peralta's transfer from Mexico City club America to Guadalajara's Chivas was the first high profile deal between the clubs -- which battle it out in Liga MX's Clasico Nacional -- in more than 10 years.

"There was a personal situation that also made me move, it was serious, honestly, but I think a lot of people go through it, it shouldn't be permitted, we should be more rational," Peralta said at his unveiling in Guadalajara. "There was a kidnapping threat towards my wife and kids. It was one of the causes that influenced my move here, but it wasn't the whole reason."

Peralta played for Club America for five years and represented Mexico in the last two World Cups. At 35 years old, the 2012 Olympic gold medal winner believes that he still has plenty to give Chivas.

"I'm not thinking about retirement, I'm just starting here," he said. I'm 35 and I may have lost some things, but I've added other things, like experience."

Peralta added: "I'm relaxed about it, I feel really good and I'm going to do everything possible in the preseason to be in form and rise to the challenge."

Peralta stated that when he was a child he had a fondness for Chivas and that he was thankful to America head coach Miguel Herrera, who was adamant that Peralta hadn't done enough at the club to qualify as one of the club's "idols."

"Oribe isn't a player that came from America, like many seem to think," Herrera told reporters on Wednesday. "It's different. If you'd said that Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who is 100 percent a Club America idol, had left [for Chivas], it'd jump out, but Oribe was important player in his five years at America, he's not an idol."

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