Ighalo’s chances won’t be reduced by Cavani’s arrival at Man United, says Akanni
Former international, Waidi Akanni, has expressed optimism that former Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo, will have equal opportunities as much as Uruguay’s international, Edinson Cavani, who, on Monday, was added into the Manchester United’s squad from PSG as a free agent.
Ighalo is currently on loan from his Chinese club, Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, and has not been involved in the Coach Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s English Premier League plan, except in the Europa and Carabao Cup. However, experts believe that the acquisition of Cavani may have put paid to Ighalo’s ambition of playing again for the club till his loan expires.
Speaking to The Guardian yesterday, Akanni said that he was sure that the arrival of Cavani to the Manchester United team would not diminish Ighalo’s prospect at the English giant, adding that all he needs to do is to sit up and prove to his fans why he had to take a pay cut to remain at his childhood club.
“The coming of Cavani will not drag Ighalo out of the pecking order at Man United. I believe this will only spur him to do more by getting back into scoring form that he was known for when he began his career at the club.
“Cavani’s arrival shouldn’t be a negative thing for him; it is a new challenge he must overcome. This means he will have to do more for him to command the same respect he got when he first came to the club,” he said, adding that since he had retired from playing for the national team, that that doesn’t mean he cannot be invited by the coach again if he changes his mind to return to the Super Eagles.
“Ighalo retired playing for Nigeria and I am not sure whether playing for Man United or not will change the coach’s mind if he wants to return to the national team he is use to. To me I will love to see him back in the national team having played for one of the biggest clubs in the world. Even if Coach Gernot Rohr has a core of players he may want to use to prosecute both the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers for the Super Eagles’ matches,” he stated.
