Funny beginnings for Odion Ighalo. The Nigerian striker from Manchester United, recruited in the winter transfer window from the Chinese club Shanghai Shenua, has been training on the sidelines since his arrival in his new club. The reason: fears related to the coronavirus epidemic, part of China.
The Times and Daily Mail both say the club asked Ighalo not to go to the Carrington training center for two weeks, so as not to risk potentially contaminating the hundreds of people who frequent it.
He should meet his new teammates this weekend
The 30-year-old, loaned until the end of the season by the Shanghai Shenhua club, had not accompanied the group to training camp in Spain during the winter micro-truce, because the club feared that he have difficulties upon his return to British territory. He is expected to meet his teammates for the first time over the weekend, before the clash against Chelsea on Monday for the 26th day of the Premier League.
During this period, the Nigerian international, who has not played since December 6, trained with a private coach in the center of British Taekwendo, located not far from the field of Manchester City. There have been nine confirmed cases in Britain, but more than 1,350 people have died and 60,000 have been infected in China, most of them in the city of Wuhan, where the virus first appeared late last year.