Josh Maja admits he wanted to stay at Sunderland | OneFootball

On Monday, former Sunderland and current Bordeaux striker Josh Maja finally opened up and discussed his move away from the Stadium of Light.

Maja left for a fee that could rise to £3.5m in January after he and the club failed to agree to a contract extension.

Should the 20-year-old have stayed, Sunderland would have only earned £300,000 in compensation upon his release over the summer.

Owner Stewart Donald constantly reiterated that Maja wanted to remain at Sunderland and the player finally revealed his side of the story.

“It was a bit of…it was up and down. Basically, I wanted to stay. Given the right contract, I would have stayed,” he told the Sunderland Echo.

“But at the time, I don’t think Sunderland were prepared to give me what I wanted so when the opportunity to play in one of Europe’s top five leagues came up, I couldn’t turn that down.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was one which to improve my career and my game I think I had to make.

“I have ambitions in my career and in my life and this is just a stepping stone for me.

“I want to keep pushing and fans need to understand what players want for themselves.

“Even though that is a bit selfish, it’s a selfish game, isn’t it?

“For me it was important to make that move and playing at a higher level, it’s a given.”

So far at Bordeaux, Maja has barely been able to earn his chance, scoring a pair of goals through 12 appearances totaling 250 minutes.