{"id":542564,"date":"2020-01-31T17:27:44","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T22:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/?p=542564"},"modified":"2020-01-31T17:27:44","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T22:27:44","slug":"report-odion-ighalo-to-sign-for-manchester-united-on-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/01\/31\/report-odion-ighalo-to-sign-for-manchester-united-on-loan\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Odion Ighalo to Sign for Manchester United on Loan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/clubs\/manchester-united\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Manchester United<\/a> are set to complete a loan deal for former <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/clubs\/watford\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Watford<\/a> striker Odion Ighalo, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1223371165399502850\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fabrizio Romano<\/a>.\u00a0The deal includes an option to buy. United had attempted to re-sign striker Josh King from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/clubs\/bournemouth\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bournemouth<\/a>, but with a deal looking increasingly unlikely, United turned their attention to Ighalo. The striker, who has been playing in China for Shanghai Shenhua, has signed a six-month loan deal at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n<h2>Manchester United Set to Sign Odion Ighalo<\/h2>\n<h3>Premier League Experience<\/h3>\n<p>United had been looking for a short term answer to their current striking problems. Any deal looked unlikely as time on transfer deadline day ticked away. However, the Red Devils have got a player who can help out on loan and who also has Premier League experience. Ighalo scored 45 goals in 100 games for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/2020\/01\/24\/nigel-pearson-is-at-it-again-prospects-of-a-watford-great-escape\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Watford<\/a> before moving to Shanghai Shenhua for \u00a322 million three years ago. The Nigerian has gone on to score 46 goals in 76 games.<\/p>\n<h3>Attempts to Sign Josh King Failed<\/h3>\n<p>United had been keen to bring former striker Josh King back to Old Trafford. A bid early on transfer deadline day was rejected. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-7952689\/Odion-Ighalo-confident-sealing-loan-Manchester-United-tonights-deadline.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daily Mail<\/a>, United offered \u00a320 million; however, Bournemouth wanted \u00a340 million. With the Red Devils needing to pay double the fee they wanted too, alternatives were looked at.<\/p>\n<h3>Time Not on United&#8217;s Side But Deal Done<\/h3>\n<p>Due to having little time left in the transfer window, getting the deal done would prove difficult. Plus, Ighlo being in China and flight restrictions not in his favour did not breed confidence. However, both player and United were determined to complete the deal. Ighalo had been in pre-season training but this had been suspended due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Even though obstacles were in the way, a deal has been done.<\/p>\n<h3>Tottenham Rivaled United<\/h3>\n<p>It is believed that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/clubs\/tottenham\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> were also interested in the 30-year-old striker. Like United, they had been looking at a short-term answer to their current injury worries. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/news\/11667\/11922986\/odion-ighalo-man-utd-explore-late-move-for-ex-watford-striker\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sky Sports<\/a>, Tottenham made a late move for the player but United won the race.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"vE3fGd_MSqB9f2GKm_w0dQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/502055448\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'vE3fGd_MSqB9f2GKm_w0dQ',sig:'DlXEs3vy4PPXvB46jorZkEMV7YNhCN0577h094zbBzI=',w:'594px',h:'400px',items:'502055448',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester United have completed the loan signing of former Watford striker Odion Ighalo. The 30-year-old has been recently playing in China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":542657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,18,30,28],"tags":[1242,90,36,4843,4844,1179,136],"class_list":["post-542564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-premier-league","category-featured","category-manchester-united","category-news","category-transfers","tag-epl","tag-fifa","tag-manchester-united","tag-odion-ighalo","tag-shanghai-shenhua","tag-transfer-news","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Nat Goodlad, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}