Former Super Eagles’ top striker, Odion Jude Ighalo has been named in a list of ’11 Worst Players’ signed by Manchester United of England since the exit of their legendary prolific coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sports247 reports.
With The Red Devils again struggling for form this season – hogging only two wins, two draws and eight defeats to highlight their dismal form – critics are slamming the quality of players in the current squad, but some take the swipe way back to 2020 – when Ighalo was in the team.
Ironically, Ighalo did hit some personal milestones after taking a pay cut to gain a loan deal at Old Trafford on January 31st, 2020, from Shanghai Shenghua of China, though it came at the onset on coronavirus and meant he had to isolate for two weeks before getting to play for his dream club.
The hitman, who earlier excelled with Lyn Oslo of Norway, Udinese of Italy, Granada of Spain and Watford of England, later on made the best of his first start for United, as he scored in a 5-0 win over Club Brugge of Belgium in a UEFA Europa League game on February 27th, 2020.
A week later, he scored twice against Derby County in the FA Cup, then waited for his goodbye gift in the last game before the covid-19 lockdown, with what turned out to be United’s goal of the month of March 2020, when he hit target against LASK of Austria, as his team again won 5-0.
However, despite Ighalo’s gritty efforts in just one year at Old Trafford and his undeniable love for The Red Devils, which he soon left on January 27th, 2021, a British newspaper (Daily Express) has sensationally placed him at the start of their survey regarding the club’s 11 worst signings since Ferguson’s exit.
A tacit explanation by the newspaper is that United barely needed Ighalo at that point in time, as he was already in the twilight of his career, which earlier hit its peak during his second season with Watford (where he had a total 34 goals in 82 games from 2014 to 2017), and the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations top scorer left after just one season.
Dramatically, this past weekend, United lost 3-0 at home versus Bournemouth, something that was practically impossible during the days of Ferguson, but things have been going downhill at Old Trafford since those glorious years, when the legendary Scot led The Red Devils to several trophies, domestically and in Europe.
While ‘Feggie’ made them one of football’s most feared clubs ever, things have gone from bad to worse for the team since he left in 2013, despite the owners spending millions of pounds on the purchase of new players, but critics believe most of them (like Ighalo) were not good enough.
They argue that, aside from winning the Europa League during Ighalo’s days in the team and finishing third last season in the English Premier League, United have very little to show for close to £2bn they have spent on transfers since 2013, which has left analysts blaming the club’s woes on the type of players who they have ‘hurriedly’ signed in the past 13 years.
To make the story a lot more dramatic and sordid, Express Sport has now placed Ighalo top of The Red Devils’ list of 11 worst players signed at Old Trafford in the post-Ferguson era – along with order notable names like Memphis Depay, Manuel Ugarte, Donny can de Beek and Anthony Martial.
While tagging Ighalo’s deal ‘a bizarre loan signing,’ the newspaper noted, “United signed the Nigerian striker on a temporary basis from Chinese outfit Shanghai Shenhua, paying an eye-watering £10.8m loan fee. He scored five goals for the Red Devils in 23 games and was one of their more unusual panic signings of the post-Ferguson era.”
