Video: Enner Valencia’s potentially fake injury leads to police chase during World Cup Qualifying

International breaks often create periods of boredom for fans of European football, but Everton’s on-loan striker Enner Valencia has kindly provided some excitement to an otherwise dull week off.

According to the Mirror, the incident began with Valencia being met at the airport in Ecuador on Wednesday by law enforcement officials. The striker, who is on loan from West Ham United, reportedly owes £13,350 in child support payments.

For whatever reason, the Ecuadorian was not detained by lawyers or law enforcement during the initial encounter — but they were present again at Ecuador’s World Cup Qualifying match against Chile on Thursday night.

Enner Valencia assisted on his country’s opening goal via a cross to Antonio Valencia early in the match, which put Ecuador on the path to a 3-0 victory over Chile.

Around the 80th minute, with his country leading 3-0, Valencia went down with a seemingly serious injury. The 26-year-old had to be carted off the pitch...when this happened (video courtesy of The Mirror and Andres Munoz Araneda):

As the cart makes its way toward the dressing room, it appears that about 10 security and law enforcement officials collectively realized that a man targeted for arrest was about to escape them!

There has been little news about Valencia’s injury status, further fueling rumors that he may have faked the injury to try to escape arrest.

In perhaps the funniest turn of this whole bizarre story, the Mirror reports that Valencia’s lawyer at some point brokered a deal with the courts to suspend his arrest for now, meaning that the whole extravaganza may have been for nothing!

Hopefully, Valencia is indeed uninjured and on his way to putting these legal troubles behind him. The Toffees continue to lack depth at the striker position, and the Ecuadorian seemed on his way to proving himself an upgrade over Arouna Kone. Of course, the club’s reaction to the whole situation could also impact Valencia’s future at Everton.

Stay tuned for any new developments in this unusual case.