Why I chose West Brom over West Ham — Ex-Super Eagles star

Former Nigerian international Brown Ideye has revealed that he opted to join West Bromwich Albion ahead of West Ham United because the deal was more concrete and ready to be finalised.

The striker was signed by West Brom from Dynamo Kyiv for a club-record fee reportedly worth around £10 million during the 2014 summer transfer window.

Speaking on The Playzone podcast, Ideye disclosed that although multiple clubs showed interest in him, the West Ham move did not receive the necessary approval compared to West Brom’s offer.

“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.

“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 explained, noting that he felt the Hammers were delaying the process.

“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.’”