TheCable

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Manchester United manager, has backed “experienced” Odion Ighalo, to bring a different option to the club.

Ighalo, joined his boyhood club, the Red Devils, on the January deadline transfer day from Shanghai Shenhua on a six-month loan for the rest of the 2019/20 season.

The former Watford FC striker is expected to enhance the Old Trafford squad forward line for the rest of the season.

The English Premier League side Man United are competing in the UEFA Europa League and the Emirates Fa Cup.

United has been inconsistent especially in the attack since the commencement of the season and injury to the team first striker Marcus Rashford further affected the performance of the team.

“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,” Solskjaer said.

“A great lad and very professional, he will make the most of his time here.”

The 30-year-old star scored 39 goals in 100 appearances in two and a half years at Vicarage Road, including 17 goals in Watford’s first season back in the top flight after securing promotion in 2014/15.

If Ighalo donned the shirt of the Man United, he will be the second Nigerian origin or ancestry to do so — after Remi Mark Moses.

Moses, whose parents are both Nigerians, joined United in 1981 and played under Sir Alex Ferguson for seven seasons before injury sent him to early retirement from football.