Manchester United can confirm that Odion Ighalo will join on loan from Shanghai Greenland Shenhua until the end of the season.
A lifelong Reds supporter, the experienced 30-year-old centre-forward is set to bolster our squad for the second half of the campaign, as the club competes in the Premier League, UEFA Europa League and Emirates FA Cup.
Speaking about the loan deal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “Odion is an experienced player. He will come in and give us an option of a different type of centre-forward for the short spell he’s staying with us.
“A great lad and very professional, he will make the most of his time here.”
Ighalo began his professional career in his native Nigeria with local clubs Prime and Julius Berger, before sealing a transfer to Norwegian side Lyn in 2007.
A year later, a move to Udinese in Italy eventually led to loan spells with Granada (twice), Cesena and Watford in the Premier League.
While at Vicarage Road with the Hornets, Ighalo impressively scored 40 goals from exactly 100 appearances across all competitions.
During that time he made three appearances against United and one at Old Trafford, losing twice and winning once, while also earning an assists.
That fruitful spell with Watford convinced Chinese team Changchun Yatai to sign him in 2017 and, two years later, in 2019, the Nigerian linked up with Shanghai Greenland Shenua.
Across all clubs in his career so far, Ighalo has scored 131 goals from 322 appearances.
The forward has also earned 35 caps for Nigeria and scored 16 times, notably finishing as top scorer in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Speaking in 2016, Ighalo admitted that United would be a dream move for him as a lifelong supporter of the Reds.
“They were my team growing up,”
he was quoted. “I loved watching Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke on TV. They were my idols and playing at Old Trafford has always been a dream.”
We all look forward to welcoming Ighalo to the Theatre of Dreams.
Amid some incredulity that a player who left England as an out-of-form Watford striker more than three years ago has seemingly been earmarked as Marcus Rashford’s replacement while he recovers from injury, there is a certain logic behind bringing in a man who was also sought after by Inter Milan and Tottenham during the January window.
Odion Ighalo knows the Premier League, has scored goals in the top flight and arrives at Old Trafford in good form. He has the sort of turn of pace which will fit in well to the style of football Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is trying to play.
He has quick feet, you won’t find too many defenders outpacing him over the first five yards, and with United keen to play with a pacey front three, he certainly fits that billing more closely than Romelu Lukaku, whose transfer last summer has since been called into question with the club’s lack of depth in attack.
The Nigerian is certainly not of the calibre of many of United’s forward signings even in recent years, but after a 14-goal haul during his one full top-flight season at Vicarage Road, he was linked with some of Europe’s biggest clubs in far more glowing terms.
During that 2015/16 season, the Hornets’ first back in the Premier League, Ighalo and Troy Deeney were the main men at Watford, and scored 15 and 13 goals respectively while no one else managed more than two. While Ighalo wasn’t particularly clinical in front of goal during that campaign, although he did end with a shot conversion rate of 13.8 per cent, similar to that of Raul Jimenez this season, and only three less than Anthony Martial.
But the following season, he struggled with form and a growing feeling he had been found out; he managed only one goal in 14 starts before moving to China in January 2017, already looking a shadow of his former self.
