It wasn’t quite long after former Super Eagles Striker, Odion Ighalo, tweeted a picture of himself with a caption that read “favour is better than labour" that he got signed on loan to Manchester United, one of England’s most successful clubs. After a couple of successful spells, the club extended his contract but since then, a fully fit Ighalo has been missing in action.
Ighalo, 31, joined Manchester United in January 2020 from the Chinese Super League side, Changchun Yatai. This move was both criticized and applauded by different sects of the United Fan base. However, Ighalo immediately proved his critics wrong by finding the back of the net 5 times. This placed him in favour with the United boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjær(OGS) who immediately renewed his contract.
His early exploits at Manchester United reignited talks about him coming back to the Super Eagles Squad. The Striker who retired from international Football in 2019 scored 16 goals for Nigeria but failed to register his name in the world Cup.
However, the reignited talks quickly died out as Ighalo slowly faded into the shadows of Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani. Since Cavani Joined Manchester United on the 5th of October, 2020, Ighalo has only played 1 minute for United.
Furthermore, Ighalo has not only been missing on the pitch, but he also has been missing on the bench. Does this mean Ole no longer considers him an option for the team’s attacking force? Well, as it stands, Ighalo is not even in the top 3 of Manchester United Striking force. Since Cavani’s entry, OGS has been shuffling between Martial, Rashford, and Cavani.
Ighalo may need to fight for his spot in the team but to fight, he first needs to get a substantial amount of playtime. Will OGS trust him for upcoming games? Well, that’s something we can only hope for the Nigerian Superstar.