By Jennifer Amarachi
Brown Ideye, a former Nigerian forward, disclosed on Wednesday his wife’s reaction to his proposed pay and bonuses when Tianjin TEDA, a Chinese Super League team, wanted to recruit him.
He stated that, while he had no intention of doing business in China, the monetary incentives associated with the TEDA agreement changed his mind.
In a post on his X.com account, the AFCON 2013 winner stated that after telling his wife the figures, she quickly packed his things and prepared him to travel the following day.
The 36-year-old added, “I had no plans to travel to China, but Olympiacos received an offer from TEDA that they couldn’t refuse, and my agency negotiated with TEDA about my salary and bonuses.
“When I saw the long numbers and told my wife, na she pack my luggage for me to leave the next day LOL…”
In a 2019 interview, Ideye revealed that he saw hell after moving to China, saying “I was instructed to train with the minor team despite not violating any established regulations. I don’t want any footballer to have to go through what I did in China over the last year. Thank God I’m back in the game, and I’ve psychologically moved on from that. I need to pick up where I left off and focus on my new club, hoping to do better. It wasn’t easy, but I needed to keep my physique in good form”.
He also blamed his dismal performances at Premier League clubs West Bromwich Albion and Tianjin Teda on injuries and a failure to adjust to new cultures.
After a great performance at Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv, where he scored 45 goals in 106 games, Ideye joined West Brom for a club record fee of £10 million in 2014.
However, he failed to live up to the promise, scoring only seven goals in 37 appearances. After failing to impress in England, Ideye’s poor form continued when he joined Chinese club Tianjin Teda from Greek powerhouse Olympiacos.
“The issue I had in China was that there is this rule that every six months, they had to reshuffle the team and at the time I got to China, it was really difficult for me; the language, the players, not having good food.
“It took me time to really adjust to the Chinese league, and with all the expectations from the fans and the team. The management felt I wasn’t good enough or that I couldn’t meet the expectations placed on me, they ended up signing a new player in my position and they asked me to go on loan.”
But Ideye’s flashback to his contract, which led to his time at Tianjin TEDA on Wednesday, could be related to the present predicament surrounding Super Eagles attacker Victor Osimhen’s future.
