Odion Ighalo lays his Man Utd cards down on the table

Odion Ighalo, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer TEAMtalk

Odion Ighalo wants to spend “the rest of his life” at Manchester United, according to the striker’s personal trainer.

Ighalo, 30, joined United on loan in the January transfer window and scored four times in his first eight appearances for the club before the Premier League was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Man Utd reportedly made securing his signature on a permanent basis a top priority for the summer ahead, Sky Sports have reported that parent club Shanghai expect Ighalo to return from his loan spell ‘for the start of the new Chinese Super League season,’ tentatively scheduled to begin in July.

The article notes that Shanghai’s desire will only be offset if the Red Devils stump up the requisite fee to sign Ighalo on a permanent basis, with that sum stated to be around the £20m mark.

As it stands, Ighalo’s contract at United expires at the end of May, but the forward’s personal trainer has said that the Nigerian wants to finish his career at Old Trafford.

 

 

 

“He’s a wonderful athlete, I’ve never seen someone more passionate about their job than him,” Ekemini Ekerette told Goal. “I think he’s in excellent physical condition. He loves the game. He just wants to train. Even if the league wasn’t going to played in the next three months he would keep training every day. He is so disciplined.

“His future was not making a difference to his intensity in training. He is just always focused on making sure he’s doing what he needs to do and then pushing himself even further.

“He’s a team player and has been talking about [Marcus] Rashford, [Anthony] Martial, [Mason] Greenwood, and how fantastic they all are, so he’s looking forward to hopefully getting to play with Rashford. He wants to stay and loves United, Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] and the fans and he would love to be a Red for the rest of his life.”