Odion Ighalo may play in his first Manchester derby today, having signed for the club in the January transfer window, which is a moment he has dreamed of since being a little boy in Nigeria.
Speaking with Sky Sports, Ighalo has spoken what his life was like as a young United fan and the efforts he went to in order to watch the team play from the ghetto in Ajegunle.
I know many footballers say that, when they sign for a team, this is my dream team. Respect to that but my own case was different. Anyone who knows me back from when I was young knows me and my siblings supported Man United, we would pay to go and watch Man United play. In Nigeria, you have to have sports channels to watch that but not everyone can afford it. My parents couldn’t afford that so you have to pay a viewing centre to watch that. We would pay to watch that.
I grew up in Ajegunle, which is like a ghetto and it was very difficult there. When it would get to the weekend, everybody was excited because they wanted to watch Man United play. You start saving the money they would give you to go to school. You would eat at home and they would give you some pocket money to go to school and maybe eat lunch there. But you would be saving it bit by bit and when you get to the weekend, everybody is ready.
You have your jersey and you wash it before the weekend. You put them on and go to the viewing centre and it’s crazy there. Some other fans want Man United to lose then you’re a Man United fan and you want them to win and you start arguing, shouting, screaming and all of that. In some there are 200 people in this small room. You go to another one and you see 500 people in there. Some people would stand, you’re paying but even then, you’re standing and watching it from afar. There’s a big screen and a little screen and you have to watch there.
Back then, Manchester United were the best team in England. They won every game, every season you’d see them winning the Premier League when Sir Alex Ferguson was here. Everybody wants to associate with a team that’s winning and that’s how I associated myself. I was very young then and growing up, I followed the team to today.
Back then, they also had an association of Man United fans so there would be a meeting once a week to talk about Man United, like a little fan forum. When I remember all that now, I laugh and say ‘wow, from Ajegunle to the Theatre of Dreams’. It’s a great moment for me and I’m enjoying every bit of it. It is the happiest moment of my life, playing for my dream team, the team I supported when I was young.
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Ighalo spent two and a half years playing in England for Watford, scoring 39 goals in 99 appearances, but any dream he had of playing for United looked impossible to achieve. The dream died when he gave up on his Premier League career to play in China.
But with United having failed to sign a replacement for Romelu Lukaku and suffering from an injury crisis up front, we went in to the January transfer market looking for a striker. Bournemouth Joshua King, someone who had played for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in our youth team, looked to be the favourite but the relegation battling club weren’t interested in parting with him unless for a huge sum. So United surprisingly turned to Ighalo.
The Nigerian striker has reflected on what those couple of days were like for him.
