JOHANNESBURG – Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo is proving his worth at English Premier League (EPL) giants Manchester United, his latest feat - making a positive impact in the Manchester derby over the weekend.
The 30-year-old has already scored three goals for the Red Devils in his seven appearances, but it was the performance against Manchester City that thrust him into the limelight. On the field for just seven minutes coming on as a substitute he was able to influence the game as described by manchestereveningnews.co.uk:
“In just seven minutes on the pitch Ighalo gave United everything they have been missing this season with a commanding centre-forward display which saw him win all four of his attempted duels, complete his only dribble of the game and provide one key interception to interrupt City's growing rhythm in the game.
“Five of his six attempted passes were successful as Ighalo demonstrated his growing importance to the side, and proved his true transfer worth to the side with his distributional play rather than his attacking threat,” manchestereveningnews.co.uk wrote.
Publications like goal.com are already running stories like “Ighalo could be about to become a Manchester United cult hero.”
Ighalo was signed in the final few hours of the January transfer window, and many questioned the decision to sign a player who was currently playing in China in part of a three-year stint.
The Lagos-born player has previous experience in England having joined Watford in July 2014. There he spent three years, playing 82 matches and scoring 33 goals.