Manchester United’s January transfer signing from Shanghai Shenhua, Odion Ighalo is unlikely to be named in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team to face Chelsea.
Manchester United’s loan signing from Shanghai Shenhua faces an uphill battle to convince Solskjaer of his fitness ahead of next Monday’s trip to Stamford Bridge.
Ighalo has been forced to miss the team’s warm-weather training camp in Spain because of potential changes to border restrictions on people arriving in the UK from China amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The 30-year-old is having to work on his fitness with the club’s coaches that stayed behind at Carrington.
He has not played in a competitive fixture since the Chinese FA Cup final at the start of December.
Despite Ighalo’s lack of action in recent weeks, it would not have been a surprise to see him thrown into the thick of the action because of United’s lack of options in attack.
According to the Evening Standard, however, Ighalo will have to ‘produce wonders’ in training back in Manchester if he is to stand any chance of making the XI to face Chelsea.
Speaking before the squad jetted off to Spain on Saturday, Solskjaer admitted it was not worth the risk-taking the former Watford hotshot out of the country.
“Odion will stay in Manchester because he arrived from China in the last 14 days,“ he said.
”Because of the situation in China, we’re not sure if he’d be allowed back into England if he leaves the country again, so he’s staying here working with a personal coach, individual programme and his family then can settle in England as well. That’s a plus
