Manchester United’s decision to sign Odion Ighalo on loan on Deadline Day in January was met with scorn in some sections of the media, owing to how the Red Devils had gone from targeting Red Bull Salzburg’s prodigious talent Erling Haaland to settling for a 30-year-old striker plying his trade in China.
Many arguments were made for and against the Shanghai Shenhua loanee, with his supporters claiming his long-standing affinity for the club he supported as a boy meant there was a determination to thrive at Old Trafford.
On the other hand, though, were the naysayers who believed the forward was past his best and couldn’t thrive at this level anymore.