Julius rues wait for move

Julius Aghahowa says previous attempts to move to the Premiership were blocked.

Julius Aghahowa has revealed his previous attempts to move to the Premiership were blocked by Shakhtar Donetsk's wealthy owner.

The Nigeria international joined Wigan Athletic before the close of the transfer window and made his debut in last week's 1-0 win over Portsmouth.

But Aghahowa has revealed there had been plenty of English interest in him before, only for Shakhtar owner Rinat Akhmetov to refuse all offers.

The powerful striker understands Akhmetov's reasons, but concedes it did not help his morale in Ukraine, particularly as he was unable to see his family.

"It was difficult for me in the Ukraine," said Aghahowa. "My family could not stay with me because of the language barriers and the cold weather.

"My daughter had to go to school in Nigeria and I only saw them twice a year when I was with the national team. It was a frustrating time for me and one of the reasons why I wanted to move.

"There was interest from Manchester United and then Arsenal. There were a lot of others too. Bolton were interested when Jay-Jay Okocha was there, but my club wasn't so keen.

"The problem was my president at Donetsk wasn't ready to discuss terms, he always put high fees on me to scare clubs away. There were a lot of figures about - sometimes they even said £20million.

"The owner was a wealthy man, he does not depend on what he can sell you for. He doesn't need the money. He just wanted his team to be stronger.

"My morale dipped, I didn't want to continue playing, but I had to. It affected my game for a while, but I started enjoying it again before I left.

"You have to respect your contract. My agent was close to the president, they said I could go after a year or two, it wouldn't be a problem.

"I worked hard and did my best for the team, but they would never even listen to offers."