Manchester United’s hope of signing Odion Ighalo is in doubt as his parent club, Shanghai Shenhua, expect him to be back in time to prepare for the start of Chinese Super League season which will commence in July.
Manchester United hope to extend Ighalo’s loan till the end of the Premier League season but as things stand, the date when the season will end remains unclear as the Coronavirus pandemic persists and initially, Ighalo’s deal was expected to expire on May 30.
Shanghai Shenhua will only permit Ighalo to continue with his exploits at Old Trafford if he is signed on a permanent deal for £20m by Manchester United. The meaning of this is if Manchester United do not want to sign him permanently, he would go back to China to re-join his parent club.
The Nigerian striker has netted four goals since joining Manchester United on loan and he admitted he was willing to end the current season with the Premier League giants last week.
He said: “I would like to finish the season if it’s possible. 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.”
