China Super League
END OF THE ROAD FOR ODION IGHALO’S MAN UTD ADVENTURE
With barely days to the end of the deal Odion Ighalo’s Chinese club, Shanghai Shenshua, had with Manchester United, the Premiership side have hit a brick wall in their attempts to extend Odion Ighalo’s loan deal.
The Chinese club, according to UK’s Daily Mail, has rejected United’s requests to keep Ighalo at Old Trafford for another three months and are demanding that the Nigerian striker rejoins them to prepare for the start of the delayed Chinese Super League season.
Unless United can make a late breakthrough in talks, Ighalo will return to Shanghai when his loan ends a week on Monday having played his last game for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
The 30-year-old, who resumed training with the rest of the United squad at Carrington last week, would prefer to finish the season in England after impressing with four goals in eight games before the coronavirus shutdown.
But Shanghai have the final say and are determined to get Ighalo back, having offered the former Watford player a two-year contract extension until 2024 on improved terms of £400,000 a week.
United paid a £3m loan fee for Ighalo at the end of January and have also been contributing £130,000 to his weekly wages, even though they haven’t played in two-and-a-half months.
Having initially taken him on loan until May 31, they want to keep Ighalo until the end of August when the season is now expected to finish, but Shanghai have refused to budge in negotiations.
Despite speculation the Chinese club are prepared to sell him for a fee in excess of £20million, a permanent deal has not been discussed.
It couldn’t go through until the start of the delayed transfer window regardless, which is expected to be open from August until October.
United’s needs have also changed since they signed Ighalo three months ago to replace Marcus Rashford who has since recovered from a double fracture in his back.
It’s not the way that Ighalo, a boyhood United fan who scored a stunning volley in what may prove to be his final game for the club against LASK Linz in March, would have wanted to leave.
But having been unable to train at Carrington for the first two weeks at United due to health and safety concerns surrounding his move from China, the striker’s short stay looks like reaching an equally unsatisfactory conclusion.
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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