Brown Ideye has completed a switch to the Spanish La Liga with Malaga in an attempt to revive his career with the Nigerian national side. The former West Bromwich Albion striker left Chinese Super League side Tianjin Teda for Malaga on loan prior to last month's Spanish transfer deadline.

Shortly after his switch, Ideye was quick to thank both Teda and Malaga for pushing through the short-term move, he said: "So happy to have signed for Malaga on loan in one of the biggest leagues in the world. I enjoyed my time at Tianjin Teda and I want to thank the management and fans. Now onto a new chapter in La Liga. Big thanks to everyone who made this possible for me; I’m grateful. I can’t wait to get started!"

Nigerian coach Gernot Rohr had offered a shrewd warning to the players featuring in the Chinese Super League by stressing that he may only pick three eligible players from the division. He has since taken a different opinion, though his urge to play young players lends credence to his threat.

Meanwhile, former Nigeria international Waidi Akani has also backed the move by saying that it was a smart idea from Ideye to pursue a fresh challenge after a turbulent spell in the Fat East, he said: "Yes, to make the World Cup team might be his primary aim for moving to Malaga, but what matters most is that he must be playing regularly and very well for the Spanish team to earn a recall to the national team."

Nigeria have had the luxury of capping several players born in England with Premier League experience, but they still fail to make it big at the World Cup finals with their best result to date being the round of 16 stage, reached during the 1994,1998 and most-recently the 2014 edition.

The West African nation literally cruised through their World Cup qualifiers after which they picked up a surprise 4-2 win over Argentina in an international friendly, but the result cannot be taken much into context with Lionel Messi missing the game for the 2014 World Cup finalists.