Former Super Eagles player, Brown Ideye has said that his absence from Nigeria’s team for the 2014 FIFA World Cup could have been because he decided to end his relationship with his longtime Nigerian agent.
Brown Ideye was an important player for the Super Eagles squad that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
The former FC Dynamo Kyiv striker formed a formidable attacking partnership with Emmanuel Emenike, who eventually became the tournament’s top scorer.
In an interview on The Play Zone, Ideye explained that the disagreement started during talks about possibly moving to West Ham United, and at the same time, he was also getting interest from West Bromwich Albion.
“I was left out of the 2014 World Cup squad because I ended my contract with my Nigerian agent, who had been supporting me throughout my entire career,” Ideye said.
Ideye stated that his Nigerian agent was handling negotiations with West Ham, while another UK-based agent was working on the West Brom deal, which was progressing more quickly and was close to being finalized.
“There’s an agent who helped with the West Brom deal, while my Nigerian agent was working on the West Ham talks, and another UK agent helped with the West Brom deal,” he explained.
He continued, “The West Ham deal wasn’t moving forward, but the West Brom deal was all set to happen. I chose the safer move to West Brom in the end.
“I chose the option that was certain, but he felt I had betrayed him by opting for another agent, and he became quite upset.”
Ideye also said he chose to end the professional relationship with the Nigerian agent to stop more conflicts, adding that ending his contract with the agent might have played a role in him not being included in the World Cup squad since the agent was very close to the then Super Eagles boss, Stephen Keshi.
He added, “And I said, since things have gotten this far, I don’t want to fight with you anymore, so let’s stop here.
“I, 99.9 percent believe that this is the reason I was left out because he and Keshi are close.”