Southeast Asia

Madura United FC claim other clubs tried to sabotage Peter Odemwingie transfer

Madura United FC are clearly upset by their failure to seal the deal for the former Nigeria international striker Peter Odemwingie, and blame other Liga 1 clubs as the culprits.

Madura United previously claimed to have reached a pre-contract agreement with Odemwingie, and the 35-year-old player will come to Indonesia in late March.

Odemwingie was expected to be the second high-profile footballer to join the league, after Michael Essien signed for Persib Bandung earlier this month.

“There is a sabotage attempt against Peter Odemwingie made by one participant of Liga 1. There were indications of unfair competition which we take very strongly,” said team manager Haruna Soemitro.

“Legally, the process of final negotiations had finished with the player signing a pre-contract agreement. We have also given flight tickets to Peter and his family.”

“Suddenly his agent in England said that there is one other high-ranking Liga 1 offers a fantastic deal, so Peter cancelled,” Haruna added.

Meanwhile, head coach Gomes De Olivera is still hoping Odemwingie will eventually join the club, considering that Rishadi Fauzi is the sole striker for Madura.