Manchester United of England striker, Odion Ighalo’s decision to embark on large scale personal training sessions early in his arrival at Old Trafford is paying off, as he has been included in The Red Devils’ squad list to battle Chelsea on Monday, megasportsarena.com gathered.
Although Ighalo had to be dropped at the last minute from the club’s roster to Marbella, Spain for their mid-season break last weekend, United’s boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confessed that he was impressed with the striker’s personal work rate, which has now convinced the gaffer to trust in him for the battle away at Stamford Bridge next week.
Interestingly, Ighalo has already continued personal daily training drills under the supervision of a freelance performance enhancing expert, which has now turned out to be his saving grace in the realization of his desire to hit the ground running and prove critics wrong from the word go, with a super debut in United’s colours.
That opportunity will now come his way on Monday, as reports out of Queensland indicate that Ighalo will go straight into the squad for the clash against Chelsea in London, despite him being absent from his new club’s warm-weather training camp due to concerns over coronavirus, as he arrived in Manchester from Shanghai Shenhua of China, where the disease started and spread.
Solskjaer, though, is keeping faith with Ighalo’s personal efforts to keep himself in shape, while also following United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward’s promise to the club’s fans that this summer is important in the club’s rebuilding process, as they aim to be challenging for titles.
United’s board and Woodward have come in for criticism from supporters with Solskjaer’s side currently eighth in the English Premier League, after struggling with inconsistency throughout the campaign, with many also critical of what Ighalo can offer them as a 30-year-old veteran.
However, the former Super Eagles’ striker continues getting thumbs of from Solskjaer, after he completed a shock loan switch from Shenhua at the end of January and will go straight into the squad to battle The Blues, in spite of not being at their build-up camp and training in Spain.
Ighalo had earlier started pre-season training in China, before his sudden move to Manchester, where he quickly started undergoing a strength-based fitness regime in a bid to get match ready, but he had to be left behind last weekend, due to precaution over the spread of coronavirus at his former base, where the disease has so far killed more than 1,000 people.
United’s gaffer said they had to leave Ighalo in the UK because they were unsure whether he would be allowed back into England, having arrived from China the previous fortnight, but the boss has hinted that the striker will be in the squad taking on Chelsea after the winter break.
“We will just see his fitness work this week and I think we will get him sharp. We want to fully integrate him as quickly as we can because, of course, he is desperate to play for us. Yeah, he is going to travel with us. We will just see his fitness work this week,” Solskjaer submitted.
