I'm 99% sure — Former Super Eagles star shares reason he missed 2014 World Cup

Former Super Eagles star Brown Ideye has said that his transfer to West Brom in the summer of 2014 affected his chances of making the World Cup in Brazil. 

Ideye claimed that his former Nigerian agent, who had a cordial relationship with then-head coach Stephen Keshi, sabotaged him after he secured a transfer to West Brom using a foreign agent. 

Speaking on the Play Zone podcast, Ideye, who was a star member of the triumphant Super Eagles squad at the AFCON in South Africa under Stephen Keshi in 2013, explained why he was omitted for the World Cup a year later. 

He linked the incident to his transfer to West Brom that summer, explaining that a career decision cost him his participation at the global showpiece. 

"I was dropped (from 2014 World Cup squad) because I fired my Nigerian agent that have been with me all along," Ideye said. "You know, I mentioned the deal of West Ham and the clubs that were looking for me."

"There is this agent that came with the West Brom deal and my Nigerian agent has the West Ham, and another agent from the UK came with the West Brom deal.

"The West Ham deal was not giving any green light; the West Brom deal was ready to go. I went with the one that was sure but he felt I betrayed him, that I went with another agent and he became really upset.

"And I said, since it became this way, I would not want to fight with you, so let's call it a quit. I, 99.9 percent believe that that's the reason why I was excluded because him and Keshi are close," he concluded.

Ideye’s move to the English Premier League ultimately failed to justify his club-record £10 million transfer fee. While he did shine in a game against West Ham by scoring two goals against them in a 4-0 FA Cup victory, his overall output was underwhelming; he registered just seven goals and two assists in 31 appearances across all competitions. 

West Brom cut their losses after a single season, selling him to Greek side Olympiacos in the summer of 2015 for roughly €6 million. 

On the international stage, Ideye concluded his Super Eagles career with 28 caps and six goals between his debut in 2010 and his final appearance in October 2016.