Cost of Odion Ighalo’s Man Utd loan extends into eight figures

Odion Ighalo TEAMtalk

Manchester United have agreed a £10.5million outlay to keep Shanghai Shenhua striker Odion Ighalo on loan until January 2021, according to a report.

It seemed as though Ighalo’s time at United was up last week with the Daily Mail and The Times reporting that Ighalo was set to return to China over the weekend after a mega contract offer from his club.

However, United and Shanghai came to an agreement and the club officially announced the 30-year-old was staying until January on Monday.

And the Daily Mail claims that Man Utd have agreed to pay “a £6million fee” to Shanghai Shenhua, while they have committed to pay “just under half of Ighalo’s £300,000-a-week wages” for his extended eight-month stay.

That means the Chinese Super League side “Will receive a total of £10.5m, with the £6m loan fee and £130,000-a-week salary combined” from United.

Despite Shanghai offering him a huge new £75million contract, which would have seen his wages increased by a further £100,000 a week, Ighalo was keen to stay with the Red Devils.

Speaking last week on MUTV, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer discussed the outlook for Ighalo returning to Man Utd, he said: “They [Shanghai Greenland Shenhua] have been great towards us, allowing him to play for his dream club. It’s been a dream for him and hopefully he can finish what he started and win a trophy with us.”

Ighalo scored four goals in eight appearances for the club he supported since childhood, only for his loan to expire while the league was in suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic.