National Telescope national telescope newspaper
Former Nigerian forward Brown Ideye shared the amusing reaction of his wife to the lucrative offer he received from Chinese Super League team, Tianjin TEDA.
Speaking on Wednesday, Ideye revealed how his wife immediately packed his bags when she saw the salary and bonuses attached to the contract.
Though Ideye had no plans to move to China, the financial terms of the deal were too tempting to ignore.
Posting on his X.com account, the 2013 AFCON winner shared, “I had no plans to go to China. Olympiacos received an offer from TEDA that they couldn’t refuse. My agent negotiated with TEDA about my salary and bonuses. When I saw the long numbers and told my wife, she packed my luggage for me to leave the next day LOL…”
Despite the initial excitement, Ideye later admitted to a national newspaper, in a 2019 interview that his time in China was far from ideal.
He described his experience as challenging, stating, “I was ordered to train with the youth team despite not going against any laid down rules. I don’t pray for any footballer to go through what I experienced in China.
“Thank God I’m back in the game, and I’ve put that behind me psychologically. I need to pick up where I left off, focus on my new club, and hopefully do better.”
He explained the difficulties he faced during his stint at Tianjin TEDA, attributing his struggles to the club’s management decisions, the language barrier, and cultural differences.
“The issue I had in China was that every six months, they reshuffled the team. It was really difficult for me, the language, the players, not having good food. It took time to adjust to the Chinese league, and with all the expectations from the fans and the team, the management felt I wasn’t good enough. They ended up signing a new player in my position and asked me to go on loan.”
Ideye also touched on his underwhelming performances at Premier League club West Bromwich Albion and Tianjin TEDA, citing injuries and challenges in adapting to new environments as the primary reasons.
Following a successful spell at Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv, where he scored 45 goals in 106 appearances, Ideye joined West Brom in 2014 for a club-record fee of £10 million. However, he managed just seven goals in 37 appearances for the Baggies before moving to Tianjin TEDA, where his form continued to falter.
