Former Nigerian international Brown Ideye has disclosed that he chose West Brom ahead of West Ham because the deal was ready to go.
Recall that the Baggies signed Ideye from Dynamo Kiev for a club-record fee believed to be around £10m during the summer transfer window in 2014.
In a chat with The Playzone podcast, Ideye stated that the West Ham deal was not given any green light compared to what West Brom was offering him.
“Before I signed for West Brom, I had four clubs [who wanted me], but I chose West Brom. What are the other clubs? I had Alaves in Spain. I had West Ham. I had a West Ham contract, everything was sent to my agent, it was just for me to sign.
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“I had Sunderland and West Brom. So I had four. I picked West Brom.You know, I mentioned the thing of West Ham and the clubs that were looking for me? So, there’s this agent that came with the West Brom deal, [together] with my Nigerian agent,” Ideye explains, feeling at the time that the Hammers were dragging their feet.
“My Nigerian agent had the West Ham deal, and another agent from the UK came with the West Brom deal. The West Ham deal was not given any green light, and I felt like the West Brom deal was ready to go; ‘Come and sign and you’re on.’ So I went with the one that was sure.
“But [my Nigerian agent] felt like I betrayed him because I went with another agent, and he became really upset and started saying all types of things. I said, ‘Look, since it’s going to be this way, I would not want to fight with you. Let’s just call it quits.’”
