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SAM Allardyce insists it will take a bumper transfer fee to persuade Wanderers to let Jay Jay Okocha leave the Reebok.
SAM Allardyce insists it will take a bumper transfer fee to persuade Wanderers to let Jay Jay Okocha leave the Reebok.
Wanderers' skipper has reportedly been offered £3 million to sign for the Al-Rayyan club in Qatar and, although Allardyce would understand any player being tempted by such a sum, he says the Middle East club would also have to offer a bumper fee to persuade him to do business.
"I think there has been some substance to it," the Whites boss said of the speculation. "But I don't think there is any possibility of us being offered the sort of money that would entice us to think about letting Jay Jay go. And that is the only reason he would leave the football club - if we felt it was the right thing for us from a financial point of view and a player point of view.
"At this point it is highly, highly unlikely."
Allardyce told the Wanderers official web site he did not blame players who were tempted by big pay days but made it clear that, with Okocha still having two years of his current contract to run, Wanderers were in the driving seat.
"The sort of money on offer in Qatar is impossible to turn down, for any human being," he said. "Greed has nothing to do with it. If somebody is offered those amounts, you have to be interested.
"But Qatar clubs take big players like Jay Jay when they come to the end of their contracts. That's why they pay them big money. But, at this moment, Jay Jay is contracted to us and, unless there is a really hefty transfer fee involved, we wouldn't consider it at all.
"These are once in a lifetime opportunities for most people and you can't see why they should turn them down, but we have no offer on the table to encourage us to let Jay Jay go.
"I don't know whether Jay Jay has had any contact ... perhaps he has and that's why it has sneaked out. But I know he is happy where he is. His family is settled and his children are in great schools and, while I think he would be interested in going (to Qatar) one day, I don't think so at this moment in time, because we are the controlling factor, not him."