Nigeria’s Osaze Odemwingie who has been having it rough with West Brom supporters after he made unauthorized move to join Queens Park Rangers has disclosed that he took a massive sacrifice to play for West Brom.
The former Bendel Insurance of Benin striker noted that, in order to satisfy his dream of playing in the English Premiership, he accepted a paycut that saw his wages reduced three times lower than what he earned playing professional football in Russia.
“But my main aim was to play in the Premier League and when I moved to Albion I took a pay cut of more than three times what I could have earned.
“I had an offer to sign for Panathinaikos in Greece for a huge amount of money but I have already made enough money for myself. I came from Moscow earning tax-free money.
“Taking these songs every five minutes from West Brom fans ‘you greedy’, I am already sick of it. First of all, I don’t need to be greedy.
“I am from countries where the maximum for us is the minimum for English people. Where I am coming from, we don’t have these opportunities.
“As hard as it is for me to think there is a happy ending, there is still a chance but it is going to be very, very difficult.”
Odemwingie’s relationship with the Baggies fans appeared to have broken down completely after the farce of his on-off switch to QPR in January.
After four months which he has described as ‘the worst of his life’, the Nigerian striker is ready to cut his ties this summer, but not before one final attempt to put the record straight.
“I want to address this greed issue now,” he said. “I was on big money in Russia before I came to Albion. I wanted to achieve a dream playing in the Russian league – what I dreamt as a kid.
“As hard as it is for me to think there is a happy ending, there is still a chance but it is going to be very, very difficult.”
“I spoke to manager Steve Clarke recently and he agreed it is going to be really, really difficult.
“We on the inside know the main issues surrounding the conflict.
“We know the mess that we have caused, so we are the same people who can clear it up. He agreed with me but I’m 90 per cent sure that it’s best for me to leave.”
