China Super League
SHANGHAI SHENHUA HOLD TIGHT TO IGHALO, DEMANDS £20M FROM MAN UNITED
Odion Ighalo could be heading back to China at the end of this month as Manchester United’s bid to keep him has been thrown into doubt by Shanghai Shenhua. According to Daily Mail of UK, the Chinese club is demanding £20m for a permanent transfer of the Nigerian striker whose worth is in excess of £20million.
Ighalo is on loan at Old Trafford until May 31 and United are hoping to extend it so he can finish the season in England.
However, Shanghai want their player back in time for the start of the Chinese Super League campaign, which is due to kick off in July, and will only allow him to stay at United if the two clubs can agree a permanent deal.
Ighalo was valued at £15m when he first arrived on deadline day in January for a loan fee of £3m, and United were ready to pay it.
Now Shanghai want significantly more for the 30-year-old former Watford man after he scored four goals in eight games for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
United were waiting to see when the Premier League will restart before opening talks because they have been paying £130,000-a-week to Ighalo’s salary during the two-month shutdown.
But they appear to be preparing for the possibility that he will leave, with club sources highlighting Marcus Rashford’s return to fitness after a back injury that prompted Ighalo’s loan move in the first place.
The player has made no secret of his desire to stay at Old Trafford having supported United as a boy.
‘I would like to finish the season if it’s possible,’ Ighalo said last week. ‘I was in good form, good shape, scoring goals and now we’ve stopped for over a month. I’ve given it my best and hopefully we’ll come back to play.
‘The team had a good momentum before the pandemic started. At the moment I’m on loan, and this will cut short my time at the club.’
Paris St Germain manager Luis Enrique will hope to count on striker Ousmane Dembele for Sunday’s Club World Cup finale against Chelsea, after a stunning 4-0 thrashing over Real Madrid in the tournament’s penultimate stage.
The Ballon d’Or frontrunner rested the entire group stage after sustaining a thigh injury and was limited to substitute appearances in earlier knockout rounds, getting his first start of the tournament on Wednesday against the LaLiga titans.
He made an immediate impact, aiding Fabian Ruiz in the opening goal in the sixth minute before sending one into the net three minutes later at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Luis Enrique previously told reporters that he believed Dembele is deserving of the Ballon d’Or, and on Wednesday said there was no doubt that the Frenchman had once again shown himself worthy of soccer’s top individual honour.
“I’d like to highlight that this is the first game that I had my best player, Dembele, at his best,” he told reporters. “We’d seen him very little throughout this tournament, this is a critical player, a unique player, a player that every fan wants to see… hopefully we can have him for the final.”
The trophy on Sunday against Chelsea would mark a glittering end to a terrific season, as Luis Enrique steered the team to the continental treble, with a 5-0 defeat of Milan in the Champions League final in his second year with the team.
“We are one game away to not just make history but to build to history of Paris, of a French club that might get every cup, every tournament,” Luis Enrique told reporters. “This is very significant for us, for our fans.”
The Club World Cup final is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT).
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Chinese authorities have banned footballers from getting tattoos and instructed national team players who have been inked to remove or cover them up to set a “good example for society”.
A growing number of high-profile Chinese players have been sporting tattoos, including international defender Zhang Linpeng, who has previously been told to cover up while appearing for both the national team and club side Guangzhou FC.
The General Administration of Sport of China (GAS) said in a statement headed, “Suggestions for strengthening the management of football players” that the Chinese Football Association would set out disciplinary requirements for national team players.
“National teams at all levels will strictly implement the relevant requirements of the management measures … (and) fully demonstrate the positive spirit of Chinese football players and set a good example for society,” it said.
It also said that for teams at Under 20 level and below the recruitment of players with tattoos was “strictly prohibited”.
The GAS added that national teams should organise “ideological and political education activities” that would “strengthen the patriotic education” of players.
Doing so would “enhance the sense of mission, responsibility and honour, and create a national team capable of conquering and fighting well and with excellent style of play”, it added.
China’s national team have failed to qualify for the World Cup finals since making their debut appearance in 2002 and look set to miss out on Qatar 2022.
-Reuters
Former Super Eagles’ hit man, Odion Ighalo is having his last days at his dream club, Manchester United as the extension granted by his Chinese club side, Shanghai Shenhua is nearing an end.
The extension lapses in January 2021. Even though Ighalo made instant impact when he initially joined the North England side, his influence has waned considerably to the extent that he had just nine minute of action in the current season of the Premier League.
Attention of Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is more on how to maximize the signing of Uruguayan striker, Edinson Cavani.
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