Peter Odemwingie has revealed that he was prepared to pay up to £700,000, to make his move to Queens Park Rangers a reality.
The West Brom’s striker failed attempt to move to London, went viral after he drove all the way to Loftus Road on transfer deadline day, but the deal fell through as both clubs had not agreed a deal. Odemwingie has since found first team opportunities hard to come by.
“I’ve had probably the worst four months of my whole life,” Odemwingie told the Birmingham Mail.
“I don’t know what the future is. We agreed not to talk about January 31st again but my question is: why don’t you want to talk about the 31st,” the Nigerian asked.
“I’m a person of principle so let’s talk about it. I don’t do anything hidden, I’m very transparent.
“There was a £3 million bid from QPR then on January 31 Albion offered me a solution.
“They said if QPR were prepared to go to £3.5 million and I topped that up with £700,000 out of my wages as part of the deal to make it up to £4.2 million, then it can go ahead.”
The Nigerian forward also revealed that he had to take a pay cut, just to realise his dream of playing in the English Premiership.
“I want to address this greed issue now. 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.
“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.”
He also addressed the issue of the fans chanting against him over his perceived greed.
“I’m already sick of it. First of all, I don’t need to be greedy,” he stated.
“I’m 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.
“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.”
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