Former Nigeria international Odion Ighalo has silenced his critics according to English Premier League legend Ian Wright.
The experienced marksman was surprisingly signed by Manchester United from Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua during the January transfer window.
Ighalo has hit the ground running at the former English champions having scored three goals in his first two competitive starts for the team.
“I’m delighted for him because like he said he could go down to maybe fourth or fifth and the way people really killed the signing like laughing at Manchester United for signing him,” Wright told Premier League Productions.
“It was so last minute because what I was reading is the way they were ridiculing the signing of Ighalo because they were talking about the poor season he had before he left Watford, then going to China and not knowing exactly what he’s been doing out there, how well it’s been going for him, so when you go for somebody that was here at Watford four of five years ago, then people say is that where Manchester United are now.”
Ighalo made a substitute appearance as United secured an impressive 2-0 win over Manchester City in the Manchester Derby on Sunday night.
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“I was hoping that Ighalo could just come in, get himself fit to a certain level, score the goals like he’s done in Europe and in the FA Cup then go on to do it in the Premier League,” the Arsenal FC legend added.
“And so far my wishes come true in respect of him scoring because when somebody does something like that the amount of people that are taking encouragement from him being there and doing that is a magnificent thing what’s happening for him.
“So you just hope he can get himself fit, score more goals for Manchester United in the Premier League so people can say yes you can take a chance on someone like that.”
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COMMENTS
It’s laughable to think that the people at Man United did something out of the ordinary by signing Ighalo. They needed a good striker. So, how do you generally identify a good football player? A great way to do this is by observing outstanding performances in internationals. Enter Ighalo. Scoring goals for fun for Nigeria before the 2019 aFCON. Then emerging as top scorer in the Afcon itself. It doesn’t matter where he plays! If it was up to me, even if Ighalo was playing in Afghanistan or Tahiti, I would still have considered him, based on his international performance. His critics who don’t take this into consideration are being ignorant. Worse still, it betrays an underlying lack of appreciation and respect for the Afcon. Afterall, if Ighalo had the golden boot for the Euro cup, or the copa america, I doubt any of the critics would have opened their mouths. With his performance, Ighalo not only silenced the critics, he is helping to gain some much needed respect for Afcon and other African football competitions.
Even his critics in Nigeria berated him, dubbing his goals “ mere tap ins”, forgetting that it takes sound skills to work such seemingly effortless feats. These same fellows are dragging him out of retirement. I only hope that his wife who endured relentless attacks will deliver pillow talks. Trust Naija ladies.
A good footballer is a good footballer n not about game time or league they play in. Many things like agents connections, football politics,luck, nationality, players personality etc factor into players playing in top teams. Ighalo with his qualities should have been playing for Man utd n many more top teams before now but for some of those factors mentioned above.