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Okocha spent four years at Bolton Wanderers, making 124 appearances before moving to Qatar.
Former Super Eagles captain Austin Jay Jay Okocha has revealed that his move to Bolton Wanderers in 2002 was not a well thought out one.
The ex-PSG star told talkSPORT Breakfast that he did not do his research properly before he decided to switch the Ligue 1 side for the Reebok Stadium.
Okocha had impressed then Bolton Wanderers coach Sam Allardyce with display for Nigeria at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan.
Although Nigeria failed to make it out of a group that had England, Sweden, and Argentina, Big Sam was convinced that Okocha was the man his side needed.
However, looking back, Okocha feels he did not do enough due dilligence before making a move to the Premier League.
“I will say that it’s obvious that I didn’t really do my research before signing for Bolton,”
“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,” Okocha said.
Okocha repays Sam Allardyce’s faith in him
Bolton Wanderers were fortunate to sign Okocha for free in 2002; same player Paris Saint-Germain splashed out £14 million to acquire in 1998.
During an exclusive interview with Pulse Sports, Jay Jay Okocha revealed that he would be worth a whopping €150m in today’s transfer market.
On arrival in Englad, Okocha took the Premier League by storm and saved Bolton from relegation in 2002/2003 season.
49-year-old Okocha said he did not hit the ground running and that it took him a while before he understood Big Sam’s philosophy, but once he did, it was all magic from there.
“It took me a while to really understand what Sam’s philosophy was, but once I understood it, it was a bit easier then.
“After a while I realised that it’s not really that kind of long ball person, but it was all he had then, the players that he had then he can only play direct football with them because they haven’t got the ability to out-possess the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea or Man United, so he was playing to his strengths.
“But then when we came in and when he started bringing players with better quality in his squad, we started playing a bit more possession football.”
Okocha and Ronaldinho differing fortunes
When Okocha joined PSG in 1998, a Brazilian protégé was handed to him to mentor - his name Ronaldinho.
Jay Jay Okocha told Pulse Sports in an exclusive interview that the Brazilian superstar learnt a few tricks from him.
Ronaldinho switched Parc des Princes for Baracelona in 2003 and went on to win the Ballon d’Or in 2005.
Meanwhile, his mentor Jay Jay Okocha failed to win the African Footballer of the Year award despite being nominated on three occasions.
Austin Okocha won the Nigerian Footballer of the Year seven times and the BBC African Footballer of the Year in 2003 and 2004. He was also named Bolton's Player of the Year in 2005.
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