O’Dea claims money was the sole motivation for joining Donetsk

Republic of Ireland international central defender Darren O’Dea has admitted his decision to leave Toronto FC for the Ukrainian side Metallurg Donetsk came down to one thing — money.

O’Dea was keen to agree a new contract with Toronto but that would have meant taking a hefty 50% pay cut.

He now has inked a lucrative three year deal with Metallurg but revealed leaving Canada was tough as he had settled well there with his family following his departure from Celtic last summer and was keen to stay.

But after talks with coach Ryan Nelsen and Toronto’s club president and general manager Kevin Payne it became clear that the figures on a new two year deal were not going to add up and both parties reluctantly accepted that moving on was the only real option.

“They wanted me to be around for a number of years,” said O’Dea.

“But obviously, the contract I was on in relevance to the salary cap didn’t fit.

“They put forward a contract that would have extended my term, but it wasn’t acceptable.

“I don’t mean that in a harsh way, it was a very good contract in terms of the league.

“I was getting advised to not look at Toronto’s offer because it was a lot less than I can earn, but I actually did look quite hard because I was desperate to stay.

“I certainly wanted to do well, but it didn’t come about. Once we were allowed to speak to other teams there was quite a lot of interest.

“Leaving Toronto is obviously a tough thing but that’s football.”