Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Odion Ighalo is in contention to start the first leg of Manchester United’s Europa League last-32 game against Club Brugge on Thursday, reports Completesports.com.
Ighalo, 30, came on in the dying embers of United’s 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Monday night and was denied a debut goal when through one-on-one with goalkeeper Willy Caballero.
The former Watford striker has not started a match since Shanghai Shenhua were beaten by Guangzhou Evergrande on December 1 but Ighalo could benefit from Solskajer’s rotation as United prepare for the second of three fixtures this week.
“I won’t tell the team today but we will have to rotate with all the games coming up and he’s (Ighalo) one that could start, we’ve not 100% decided yet,”Solskjaer told a news conference on Wednesday.
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The Norwegian added: “Odion is a different type of striker, a goal scorer, we have seen him in training he knows how to play as a centre forward he’s a fantastic professional and human.
“He has already added to the squad and they’ve taken to him. We hope he will sharpen up because it’s been a while since he has played and he needs to do a little extra after training. We need to give him as much game time as possible. I’m sure he will take his changes.
Solskjaer also believes Ighalo and the club’s other January acquisition Bruno Fernandes have settled in well in their new environment.
”We had really good training sessions and it was good for team spirit as well. Bruno and Odion settled in really well and they have got on board very quick,”he further stated.
He’s adapting to a new team and we will see him get better and better and hopefully Odion can come in and do the same thing.
By Adeboye Amosu
