United land Ighalo Solskjaer makes late swoop for striker
Former Watford striker will fill in for Rashford Nigerian joins for rest of season from Shanghai
Manchester United’s frantic search for a striker culminated last night in them securing a dramatic deadlineday loan deal for the former Watford striker Odion Ighalo after balking at Bournemouth’s £35 million valuation of Josh King.
United have agreed to take Ighalo on loan from Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua until the end of the season.
The deal, which will cost United around £4million in loan fees and wages and does not include an option to buy the Nigeria striker in the summer, brings an end to manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s search for attacking reinforcements following the loss of top scorer Marcus Rashford with a serious back injury.
Ighalo, 30, who scored 16 goals in 55 Premier League appearances for Watford before leaving for China in 2017, was stranded in Shanghai last night but is scheduled to take a flight to Manchester in the next 24 hours for a medical.
He was originally booked on a flight from Shanghai on Thursday morning but it was unable to take off due to the outbreak of coronavirus, which has led to the Chinese Super League season being postponed indefinitely and prompted the player to be offered to United among others. Tottenham were also in for Ighalo but the striker – a boyhood United fan who told The Daily Telegraph in an interview in 2016 that he grew up idolising Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole – favoured a move to Old Trafford.
United face Wolves at Old Trafford this evening, when new £46.6 million signing Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon is in line to make his debut, but they do not play again after that until Feb 17 against Chelsea and Solskjaer feels the winter break will give Ighalo some time to bed in alongside Fernandes. United could go to Marbella on a training camp.
United accept Ighalo did not form part of their wider recruitment plans but, having lost Rashford for months with a double stress fracture in his back, they feel the Nigerian can help alleviate their injury woes and give Solskjaer more options in attack as they chase a top-four finish.
Chelsea and Tottenham, two of United’s rivals for Champions League qualification, both failed to add a striker in the window.
As exclusively revealed by Telegraph Sport on Thursday night, Solskjaer had initially turned his sights to King, who spent five years at United as a youngster before moving to Blackburn Rovers in 2013.
But, despite Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe making no attempt to conceal the Norway striker’s desire to return to Old Trafford, United’s bid fell well short of the South Coast club’s valuation of the 28-year-old.
United – who initially favoured a loan deal – are thought to have made an offer of around £20million for King. But Bournemouth were demanding considerably more and talks broke down, much to King’s bitter disappointment. That prompted United to turn their sights to Ighalo, another striker with links to Norway, Solskjaer’s home country. Ighalo spent a season with Lyn in 2007-08 and his agents have previously done business with Solskjaer’s long-time representative, Jim Solbakken.
Having missed out on Erling Haaland earlier in the window after the Norway striker chose to join Borussia Dortmund, Solskjaer’s desperation for a striker deepened when Rashford was injured against Wolves on Jan 15. As revealed by The Telegraph yesterday, United made an inquiry about Southampton’s Danny Ings only to be told the former Liverpool striker was not for sale. They were also offered a host of strikers, including Leicester flop Islam Slimani and veteran Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani, before turning to King and then Ighalo.
Solskjaer made clear that United needed more goals in the team in the wake of their 1-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday and he even hinted that he may be forced to rethink his system. The United manager felt Anthony Martial and 18-year-old Mason Greenwood – his only available, recognised strikers – struggled as a pairing.