Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga insists he did all he could to help McDonald Mariga get a UK work permit so he could sign for Manchester City, reports BBC Sport. Mariga's transfer from Italian club Parma failed yesterday after he failed to get clearance in time.
He has now signed a four-year deal with Italian champions Inter Milan instead.
"I would like to assure soccer fans and all Kenyans that with the British High Commissioner, I've done what I could to get Mariga into Man City," Odinga said.
"I spent a minimum of three hours on phone talking to Gordon Brown's office, the Africa Office, office of Culture and Sports, the Home office, the FA president Lord Treisman and to Mariga himself."
Odinga said that 22-year-old Mariga had eventually obtained a UK work permit but only after the transfer window for the English Premier League had closed.
It means that Mariga would be free to join an English Premier League club in the next transfer window in May.
He would have been the first player from the Premier League-mad east Africa country to sign for the top English league.
