Odion Ighalo is “ready” for a rare Premier League start on
Saturday as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United side come up short in
attacking options.
United travel to St. James’ Park on Matchday 5 of the
English Premier League- but will be doing so without some regular names in
attack.
They will be without star forward Anthony Martial, who will
be serving the first of his three-match suspension after receiving a red card
against Tottenham Hotspur in the last league match.
New signing Edinson Cavani will also not be eligible to
feature against the Magpies, as he continues to observe a 14-day self-isolation
period in accordance with COVID-19 quarantine rules.
Since completing a loan move to United from Shanghai Shenhua
in January, Ighalo,31, has not started a league game for the Red Devils.
He has had to make do with a bit-part role in the squad,
while scoring five goals in 22 appearances across all competitions.
This season, Solskjaer has only given Ighalo nine minutes of
Premier League action, and the former Super Eagles target man was omitted from
the squad completely for fixtures against Brighton and Spurs before the
international break.
However, the former Watford man insists he is raring to go
for his boyhood club, telling the club’s official website: “I’m always ready.
Whenever the gaffer calls me, my idea is just to give my best in training, work
hard and wait for my opportunity – to take it.
“Hopefully, I’ll just keep my head down, keep working hard
every day. Come to the training ground every day and give it my best. Whenever
the gaffer needs me, I will come and give my best.
“We are working hard and looking forward to it. We’ve been
training hard. Those of us who did not go to the international teams have been
working seriously hard.
“Everyone is in top shape and, when those who have been in
the international teams are all back, I think we are in good heart to win the
game. I know we didn’t start the season well, so we’ll try to start from this
weekend and try to win the game to kick the season off.”
In addition to Cavani, United made five signings in total
during the summer transfer window, with Donny Van de Beek, Alex Telles and
Facundo Pellistri also snapped up on permanent contracts, while Amad Diallo
will join the squad from Italian side, Atalanta in January.
And Ighalo is eager to work with his new teammates.
“It’s good for the team, for everybody to be on their toes
to work hard.
“For a big team, like Manchester United, you have to have
competition for players to do well and I welcome the new guys coming in. They
will bring more challenges to everyone in the team, to work hard for their
positions to play in the team.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com