Manchester United desperate for Odion Ighalo – how far have they fallen?

In the closing hours of the transfer window, Manchester United are desperately chasing Odion Ighalo despite having all month to find a striker.

We all know that Manchester United have been missing a focal point in their attack ever since they let Romelu Lukaku leave the club for Inter Milan in the summer.

For some reason, they chose not to replace the outgoing Belgian in the summer, but are desperate to do it now. However, we are now in the final few hours of the January transfer window, and Manchester United seem to have only started looking for a center-forward over the last couple days.

It’s possible that Manchester United spent so much of their time and energy this month working on a deal to bring Bruno Fernandes to the club that they left the need for a striker in the backseat.

The club is now linked with a loan move for Nigerian international and former Watford striker Odion Ighalo. He is currently playing in China with Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, where he scored an impressive 10 goals in 17 matches in the 2019 season.

Despite his good record in China, this is Manchester United we’re talking about. A player of Ighalo’s middle-class calibre should not be the answer to their problem up front.

The 6’2 striker is now into his 30’s and likely won’t produce the goals Manchester United will need in Rashford’s absence.

If only Ed Woodward and the Glazer’s were competent enough to start planning for this window months ago, they could have had a better target, and perhaps would have completed a deal far earlier in the window.

The biggest obstacle in the deal will likely be Ighalo’s salary, which currently stands at a whopping £300,000-per-week. If any deal is to be completed in the final hours of the window, it will likely be on a 6-month loan.