Nigeria forward Odion Ighalo says he is open to a return to international football with the three-time African African champions, reports Completesports.com.
Ighalo announced his retirement from international football after the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The Manchester United striker was top scorer in the competition with five goals, while the Super Eagles finished in third position.
“I am still in contact with Gernot Rohr and Amaju Pinnick, and they congratulated me on my loan deal,” Ighalo told Brila FM on Thursday.
Read Also: Ighalo Compares Greenwood To Van Persie
“I am still thinking about returning to the national team, but right now I want to concentrate on my club career.
“I left the national team because of the distance between Nigeria and China, but now that I am in Manchester and just like life and in my career, you never can tell.”
Ighalo recently extended his loan deal with Manchester United until January 2021.
The 30-year-old scored 16 goals in 35 appearances for the Super Eagles before his retirement.
By Adeboye Amosu
39 Comments
Very well then,all good.Having a Manchester united,Napoli and Leicester city strike force is a menace to our opponents going forward.
CSN have served another hot food o. Let the debate begin.
But as for me, I think he should concentrate on club football, since he left when the ovation was loudest. Nigerian fans no dey forgive mistake.
Anyway time will tell. Let’s hope for the best. Good luck to Ighalo
Hmmmm Nawaooo! Is a very big headache..
I’m short of words
He should kindly stay retired from SE. Let him concentrate on his club career (better for him considering his age), Osimhen and Cyril are capable enough to lead the current SE.
Well, it’s his choice to reconsider returning or not, he is a Nigerian and he thus have the right, but at same time it’s the coach choice as well to either invite him or not, based on his performance. This is no big deal
Distance btw China and nigeria as one of The reasons u retired???? Hmmmm…. The last time I checked, China is on planet earth not mars……
You won’t understand it @Oakfield.Those who understand this will tell you that it is a big factor.
For example, clubs release players at least 5 days before an international game and it takes this guy more than one travel day to get to Nigeria. Hence, he comes in tired already and will need to recover from travel stress but no he doesn’t have such luxury because he will play the international game three days after and needs to train with his team mates. Immediately after the game he travels for more than one day again to his club in preparation for their weekend game. Meanwhile, remember that the recovery rate of a 20 year old is not the same with an over 30 year old.So, this is the reason he said made him announce his retirement from National team.
So after the loan end and he goes back to China…..that means he will have to retire again lol since that was his reason for retiring the first time. He needs to just stay retired so we can groom the young strikers we have.
@Mitchu, I did not justify why Ighalo should come back to the SE. Whether that happens is between him and his coach. I only stated the obvious. The reason that he advanced as to why he announced his retirement in the first place was a valid reason.
Since you commanded that I keep quiet, I guess you should make your comments and read them all up by yourself.
“I did not justify why Ighalo should come back to the SE”
Exactly, you didn’t justify that of course. What you justified was that Ighalo left because of distance between country and his club side which is a blatant lie.
Ighalo lied, he should just stay and watch supereagles from afar as they wax stronger and stronger without him.
Sorry I had to tell u to keep quiet, I was kinda annoyed on seeing such claim.
plz bro dont talk too much, if they hv not traveled to Asia before, then they should keep your mouth shut …. though it was not his major reason, but if he uses it as an excuse then it is accepted.
Bro please continue to enjoy your retirement, you’re contributed your quota, now you need more quality time with your family, we have a enough young gun blazers. Thanks for serving your fatherland..
Thank you, Ighalo, for your time while in the team. Please resist this temptation to return to the SuperEagles. Your return will raise a cloud of huge dust which will sweep off your contribution and memory.
We can’t remain in perpetual strife and crisis. Even though we know that your quality is indisputable, Osimhen and the corp of neophyte strikers have to get prime time and training for the future. We are thinking of Quater 2022, not only AFCON. And that will bring another huge discontent in the camp. Do you really want to throw yourself to the hard-to-please Naija fans again?
Rohr has had too much problems already. Allow him to concentrate and deliver on his promises.
Why not devote your remaining playing days to your club career while raking in enough dough for the rainy day?
Do not be amazed that the football authorities in Nigeria could be behind all this after all.Pinnick and Rohr has kept in contact with Ighalo,besides the thinking is that a player who plies his trade for Manchester united has a wealth of experience to bring to the super eagles.You have to also look at the huge presence that addition will add to our strength,obviously having big players in big European clubs could scare opponents particularly here in Africa and win you games before it even started.
It is a welcome development to hear that our own Ighalo will be returning to the Super Eagles. His coming will definitely strengthen our team as he is a world class player. Ighalo, we love you and we will continue to cherish your contributions to the development of football in Nigeria. You are to us what Mo Sallah is to Egypt.
It will be a great joy to welcome our World best striker to the fold once again. Lord, let it happen.
With Ighalo, Dissaar and sweet Osimemen, lets see who can withstand Nigeria in Africa.
It means kelechi will be sidelined. Lol. eagle on fire.
Leave Kelechi alone. God will discipline him. An inform Kelechi is far better than any player we have at the moment, indiscipline is his greatest undoing. We should psyche this guy and the whole of Nigeria will benefit from his immense talent….. Eze,Ejuke,Ejaria,Osayi and Kelechi are players with great technical depth that I hope to see Prosper in the super eagles.
this edoman can be insane. i have mark his comments like 3 to 4 times.
where in the world did they play 3 to 4 strikers in a match?
this is what they called “sense nor reach me”
if u said ighalo should come and lead the line, which means osimhen and dresser will be useless and wasted.
we know oga rohr as coach who dont easily make changes. he never rotate squad. so u want patriotic dresser to wasted, and later we will say he cant prove himself when rohr give him chance of 35mins.
edoman oya receive ya sense back in Jesus name.
If you can bring your Manchester form to eagles then you’re welcome. Same goes to Akpeyi bring your club form instead of heart attack!
Ok na… Victor Moses too should come back, even Echiejile and Mikel ..Since we are building Team for the Future.
Hahahaha, you don dey vex be that o. Ighalo should stay with club, let’s build the tea with the new emerging players, we should be strategic and think ahead …
@Sean. Don’t compare orange with apple.
@Edoman..All na fruit
Ighalo, you will definitely be welcomed, but not during qualifiers but in the tournaments proper just like Roger Milla of Italia 90. And on the condition that your form then happens to be better than all the younger lads that will see us through the qualifiers. Coming to play in the qualifiers will surely affect this present team’s equilibrium, so not advisable.
The same Ighalo that made SE not to advance in the world cup. I still believe he is not in any way better than Osimhen. Did you all watch the first game Ighalo played for red devils. One on one with goal keeper he could not score. Osimhen can’t miss such a nice chance. I know most people here are in support of his decision because he plays for MAN.UTD. It just my opinion though.
End of the day it’s Rohr’s decision to make.Ighalo has improved post world cup.I wasn’t a fan but his post world cup form has won me over,now he is playing well for one of the best teams in the world for that he deserves to be in the super eagles if he choose to call off retirement from the team.
Every Nigerian player is open for selection it all depends on the coach like honourable @Deo rightly said.
It will be good to have him on the bench and he can use his ball holding experience to help us run out tight games.
We are playing a different style now from when he was playing for the Super Eagles. It’s about pace now, which Ighalo doesn’t have like Kalu, Osimhen and Chukwueze
@Dammy..have you really seen Dessers played? If not advice Ighalo to remain a hero and not to come and waste space on the bench. We have some funny coaches here
If Dessers is better than Ighalo he would be courted by way bigger teams than Genk
The jury is out on Dessers. For all we know, he could be another Paul Onuachu. I will not make him a fixture in the Super Eagles until he proves himself in the colours of Nigeria
Portugal without Christiana Ronaldo bunch of mediocre ,Nigeria without ighalo bunch of mediocre players believe it or leave it
Lol…people sabi yan garbage sha
@Glory why u nor wan reason with ya brain na?
not that u have something to reasonable to contribute, but just that u also a nigerian, so must add comments, even it appear senseless or brainless. thats why its public opinion.
but please @glory next time give that to ur junior brother to help comment ok. bcus we dont want zeeworld fans here. bcus if u watch zeeworld, u start to talk and reason like women.
Victor, you no go kill person with laughter.
@ Victor you need to ask your mum some serious questions about you dog DNA I have always told you, Reason you find it hard to understand simple statements on condition. Trained dogs would have been manageable though, but descending so low to mess around with hungry, rabbies infected dog tells n leaves an unbearable stench everywhere you go n everything you touch. Reason no one reckons with you, so choosing not to read n understand before before attacking,gives you away as a crying dog baby attempt/begging to be recognised. Loolzz.
I wish Ighalo success in whatever he does. It is up to Gernot Rohr to select the best legs for Nigeria from the ever increasing pool of players at his disposal.
@deo
very wise comment. Thank you. No matter what anyone says here or anywhere else, including one ‘victor’, who seemed to be a half baked individual, Rohr is paid to do a job and he will certainly do what he got to do. I will bet that Rohr will never listen to victor or his cohorts when he makes decisions.
Thank you sir.