by Ifreke Inyang

There was a time Peter Osaze Odemwingie, was the darling of Nigerian football. There was a time when the thoroughly bewitched fan, compared him with the phenomenon, that is Cristiano Ronaldo. During these times, it was a matter of when, not if the 31-year-old would walk away as with the CAF African Footballer of the Year.

He was worth the hype. On his day, the light-skinned attacker was a terror to defences, shredding them into bits with a lethal mix of skill and pace.

These days sadly, the West Brom striker, is a byword for nuisance, shamelessly contesting for most notorious Nigerian celebrity on Twitter with a certain Tonto Dikeh.

So what exactly went wrong? Why is his career almost falling apart, right before the world’s eyes?
1. Pride goes before a fall:
In an interview this week on SuperSports, Stephen Keshi was quite clear on why he dropped Odemwingie from the all conquering AFCON squad. He said: “Odemwingie is a very good player, a player I love to have in the team, but he wants to do what he wants to do.” The 53-year-old couldn’t have put it any better. Except you are a Cristiano Ronaldo or Mario Balotelli, the world really cannot leave with such god-like arrogance.

2. He who finds a good thing?
It is very possible that his marriage to Sarah, might not have had a rather bad effect on Odemwingie. Maybe if he was married to a Nigerian, he would have seen the need to be closer to home. But right now, Odemwingie, who was brought up in Russia, but chose to play for Nigeria, feels more like a foreigner. It is a behaviour that is evident in his tweets, as he refers to what is happening in Nigeria football, with terms like ‘una’, ‘your’, etc.

3. Can I get some attention, please?
Let’s not even beat about the bush. In a couple of his rants on Twitter, Odemwingie hit the nail in. He gave an insight into some of the troubles that crept up within the team over the years and of course, his beef with Keshi. However, at some point, he missed the mark and started rambling, going on about nothing and leaving his followers irritated. He gets omitted? He  rants. Ikpeba (does not) share his opinion? He rants. Nigeria wins the AFCON without him? Oh, by God and His grace, he rants some more.

4. Someone to shut him up
Quite frankly, a lot of people will agree that Odemwingie had a bad management team. After the Loftus Road debacle, the Baggies fined him two weeks wages for his behaviour and manager Steve Clarke insisting he changed his representatives. A few days later, he confirmed that “I have sacked my agents. They are at my gate begging for permission to negotiate a comeback. Told them to seek permission from authorities.”  Yes, I know the agents are there to try and fetch him lucrative deals. Maybe
they also need to take it further and ask him to drop the blaady BlackBerry or iPhone!

5. I want some more!
So what was Odemwingie looking for at Loftus Road, seated in his car and granting silly interviews? No, he was not trying to imitate Harry Redknapp – who coincidentally is the manager of Queens Park Rangers – whose best position for giving interviews. He and his not-too-smart agent, were desperately trying to engineer a move away from West Brom. The London club, who are in a fierce battle against relegation, would have offered him a bigger contract and the forward took it upon himself to fight against time, as time ran out on transfer deadline day.