26th March, 2023
Ronaldinho, the Brazilian football legend, said that he believes Jay-Jay Okocha, the former Nigerian captain and midfield maestro, did not live up to his talent after moving to Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League.
Okocha joined Bolton in 2002 after four years at PSG, where he appeared in 84 games and scored 12 goals.
He went on to play for Bolton for another four years, making 124 appearances, but his former PSG teammate believes his move to England was a mistake.
“Jay Jay Okocha, wow!! That man made football to listen to him. At training, we would watch him doing a freestyle, whatever he wanted to do, the ball would do it. But his problem is that he was too keen to move to England,” Ronaldinho said.
“I didn’t like the decision, at least in Italy or Spain, there, they allow you to play your skilled football without interfering with your play.
“In La Liga or Serie A, he would definitely get a chance to play for a big team, because they love skilled players over there. In England, you stand no chance of playing for a big team if you’re that skilled. They think it’s not necessary.”
Truth be told, Okocha had a nomadic 18-year career across Germany, Turkey, France, Qatar and England, and was regarded as an icon at Bolton.
Okocha helped his club move from just outside of the relegation zone to European football for the first time.
Speaking with talkSPORT in 2021, he confessed that the move wasn’t completely thought out.
“I will say that it’s obvious that I didn’t really do my research before signing for Bolton,” he told talkSPORT Breakfast.
“As a football person, football comes first, not the city, not the lifestyle, but one thing that’s clear is that the training ground was different, the attitude towards the games was different.”