Odion Ighalo turned down a move to join Barcelona in January, but four months down the line the forward is proving he might have made the right call.
In his first five starts at Shanghai Shenhua, Ighalo has scored as many goals.
His five goals in the five opening matches of the CSL 2018/19 season is the joint top on the scorers list alongside Tianjin Teda’s Jonathan.
According to the Nigeria international, “It was meant to be a six-month loan and strictly as a back-up striker. It was nice to hear that Barcelona were interested and any footballer would be more than happy to take it.
“But with due respect I had just finished as the second top scorer in China with 21 goals, I deserve better and didn’t want to be a short-term player somewhere,” he told BBC Sport.
“We rejected it, it was an easy decision to make and I chose to stay in China by joining Shanghai Shenhua on a longer contract,” Ighalo added.
Although his goals show the 2019 AFCON qualifiers top scorer is consistent with his quality, Shanghai Shenhua are 9th in the 16-team table, with just two wins.
