Peter Odemwingie admits he 'wanted to leave Albion'

West Bromwich Albion star Peter Odemwingie today admitted that he wanted to leave The Hawthorns this summer.

The striker lifted the lid on months of speculation surrounding his future and revealed how new boss Steve Clarke convinced him to stay. And the Nigeria international insisted he has now put thoughts of a move behind him and rediscovered his hunger for the Premier League.

"Summer was a time when, at my age, I had second thoughts about continuing to play at this level," said the 31-year-old, who was the subject of a failed bid from Qatari club Al-Gharafa.

"I thought there would be nothing new for me at West Brom and I gave it a try (asked about leaving) to see what would happen.

"But the club said that it was too early for me to go and they thought I could play an important role for them and keep playing.

"Then pre-season started and I got hungry again for Premier League action and I forgot about it."

Odemwingie, who hit 15 goals in his first Premier League campaign two seasons ago, signed a money-spinning three-year contract last summer and responded with a further 10 goals last term.

But he questioned his future at the end of the season and told new head coach Clarke about his doubts, although Odemwingie has dismissed a story claiming a training-ground bust-up between the pair in the wake of Al-Gharafa's bid.

"I don't know where that came from," he said. "People would have seen afterwards if there was a problem.

"We sat down and had a normal talk. He was the new coach and he said 'give me a few weeks and see how we work, because we're ambitious for this year'.

"I said I would give it a couple of weeks and after that I was enjoying training and it looked like it was going to be an interesting season, so I forgot about the offer."

Odemwingie created the opening goal for Shane Long in Saturday's 2-0 win against Everton – a result that kept the Baggies unbeaten under Clarke and took them third in the Premier League. "I am happy for Shane because the run he made was that of a determined striker," he added.