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On-loan right back Tomas Kalas got himself in a touch of hot water over some comments made in the aftermath of Vitesse Arnhem's 2-0 win away to Ajax earlier in the month. The 19-year-old, giving an interview on Dutch television, felt the need to praise Wilfried Bony -- understandable, given that the Ivorian had scored both goals -- but made the unfortunate mistake of bringing up Fernando Torres as a comparison.
His quotes were immediately seized upon by Goal.com and made their way into the English press as 'Tomas Kalas doesn't think Torres is good enough for Chelsea'. That would have been a really silly thing for Kalas to say, but given Goal's reputation for (perhaps deliberately) mistranslating everything in sight for shock value's sake... it seemed unlikely that he'd actually said it.
And yep, it turns out he didn't. Vitesse have released a statement from Kalas regarding the interview, and a helpful translation from resident fan Maikel Berend means that we can read it without any sensationalist spin:
Tomás Kalas was quoted wrong in an article published last week in the English media about the position of teammate Wilfried Bony. Vitesse and Kalas in particular feel sorry about the arisen consternation and would like to publish Kalas' right words about this situation.
Kalas: "I feel sad about the way my words were interpreted. I meant definitely something else when I spoke about Wilfrieds situation. I have spoken these words during the interview: ‘Torres is a great striker, who works hard, plays with intensity and who's excellent in choosing place in the box. Wilfried has other qualities. Wilfried is a very strong striker, more a type of player like Drogba. If both strikers can play together, Chelsea will be brilliant in attack that makes the team stronger. Especially with their creative players in midfield. I never said that Torres is not good enough for Chelsea.'
Vitesse emphasizes the importance of right quotes and hopes that any confusion in this situation is taken away.
Given that I can't imagine that the club were happy with the reported comments, clarification is welcome indeed. Let this be a lesson to Kalas -- never talk about Fernando Torres again or someone will lie about what you said.