BREAKING: Man Utd sign Odion Ighalo on loan until end of season

Manchester United sealed a late loan deal for former Watford striker Odion Ighalo after a deadline-day scramble on Friday.

Manchester United confirmed that Odion Ighalo will join on loan from Shanghai Greenland Shenhua the end of the season.

Following Thursday’s big-money acquisition of Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon, attention turned to bolstering Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s strikeforce before Friday evening’s deadline.

The United boss has been open about his desire to bring in an attacker this month, especially after Marcus Rashford’s back injury compounded the summer departures of Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan.

The Red Devils boss did not expect any new faces to arrive when facing the media on Friday morning, but the club are understood to have sealed a shock deal for Shanghai Shenhua striker Ighalo.

A lifelong Reds supporter, the experienced 30-year-old centre-forward is set to bolster United’s 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 assist.

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.”