Odion Ighalo Revealed In 2017 It Was His Dream To Play For Manchester United

Odion Ighalo

Odion Ighalo Revealed In 2017 It Was His Dream To Play For Manchester United 

Odion Ighalo was the surprise signing of transfer deadline day but even in 2017 the Nigerian striker was talking about the move to Manchester United being a dream.

For much of Friday it looked like United might re-sign former striker Joshua King to the club, to fill the void left by Marcus Rashford's injury, but late on in the day the club's attention turned to a loan move for Ighalo.

The 30-year-old moved to the Chinese Super League in 2017 but he revealed back then in an interview that United were his childhood club and he still dreamed of playing for them, with the interviewer asking if the club were listening.

Odion Ighalo in 2017: "Team I supported growing up? #mufc. I still support Man United today. One team I'd love to play for? Man United." #mulive [lindaIkejitv] pic.twitter.com/oE1IEWiJIi

— utdreport (@utdreport) February 1, 2020

In 2015 he said it would just be a dream playing against the Red Devils. When asked where he was most looking forward to playing after Watford's promotion he said, "Old Trafford. It'll be a dream come true to play against Manchester United, the team I supported in my youth"

United have needed a striker since the summer. They sold Romelu Lukaku to Inter, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer preferring Anthony Martial as his starting number nine and faster forwards to compliment the system.

Alexis Sanchez followed the Belgian to the San Siro, only on loan, leaving only Martial, Marcus Rashford and teenager Mason Greenwood as options up front.

Rashford picked up an injury in January after coming on as a substitute in the FA Cup win against Wolves and could be out for several months.

Ighalo scored 15 goals in 37 games in his first season in the Premier League for Watford in 2015/16, though his form fell away in the first half of the next season before he moved to China.

He joined Changchun Yatai and scored 36 goals in 55 games in CSL before moving to Shanghai Shenhua where is good form continued with 10 goals in just 17 games last season.

Ighalo celebrates scoring for Watford. Image: PA Images

The 30-year-old has joined Solskjaer's team on loan till the end of the season and was the second player to join the team in the transfer window after club finally got their hands on midfielder Bruno Fernandes.

He wasn't the most likely signing of the window, or United's first choice, but he won't care having landed the move of a lifetime.