Manchester United of England striker, Odion Jude Ighalo has been inundated with a torrential flow of lofty words and encomiums on his 31st birthday, as the former Super Eagles’ star got a lot of messages from home and abroad all through his happy hours on Tuesday, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although already relatively advanced in age, as per football permutations, Ighalo is still waxing strong at United, which he joined in January on loan from Shanghai Shenhua of China then got an extension taking him till January 2021 from an agreement that was achieved earlier this month, and the value of his continued relevance was felt in the array of greetings he received.
The accolades came tumbling in from far and wide, with Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and one of the player’s former clubs, Watford of England leading the way, after which loads of lofty qwords and stimulating complements helped him celebrate another year added to his age.
The player’s numerous fans would not be left out of the frenzy on #IghaloFC, which also had a post from Manchester United, while the NFF wrote on their verified Twitter handle that the n-form attacker, who will hope to continue his amazing form with The Red Devils when the English Premier League resumes on Wednesday, was top goals scorer at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, after which he announced his retirement from the Super Eagles.
Ighalo started his career at a youth club called AJ Lichester of Ajegunle, Lagos, from where he moved to Prime FC of Osogbo and Julius Berger FC of Lagos, then spent time at Lyn Oslo of Norway in 2007, after which he signed for Udinese of Italy, but spent most of his tenure with the Serie A side in two separate loan spells at Granada of Spain.
In 2014, he signed for Watford, who were then in the English Championship and was integral in their promotion to the EPL in the 2014/15 season and he excelled with them back in the top-flight, but a torrid start to his third campaign with The Hornets forced him to move out of Vicarage Road to Changchun Yatai of China in January 2017, for a reported £20 million, before moving to Shanghai Greenland Shenhua two years later.
Born June 16, 1989 in Ajegunle area of Lagos, Ighalo made his debut for Nigeria in March 2015 against Uganda, almost 16 years after he captained the youth squad, Flying Eagles at Egypt 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup, then played in the senior cadre at Russia 2018 World Cup, after which he hit seven goals to emerge highest scorer in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and then helped Nigeria to third place at the main event in Egypt, where he was also crowned top scorer with five beauties to his name.
Before then, Ighalo was initially named as one of three over-age players in Nigeria’s squad for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, but he eventually did not make the trip to Brazil and early this year, he returned to the EPL, as he joined Man United on loan until the end of the season, but stunning form from the top striker, who made his Super Eagles debut in 2015 and earned 35 caps with 16 goals to his name meant The Red Devils were eager to extended his stay.
United confirmed how much they adore Ighalo, as the Old Trafford club did not waste time in joining the roll call of accolades that came his way on his birthday, which symbolically comes on the eve of the return of top-flight action in England, after 100 days of abeyance forced by COVID-19; after the Nigerian soccer governing body opened the spray of plaudits.
The NFF posted: “Happy birthday to Afcon 2019 top scorer, @ighalojude. Keep soaring, keep shining, and have a good one;” and Man United added: “Happy birthday to you, @IghaloJude!”
