Nyasha Mushekwi says Manchester United’s signing of Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo, on loan, proves that club football in China is not a dumping ground for faded stars.
The 30-year-old Super Eagles striker, who won the Golden Boot at the last AFCON finals in Egypt and featured in a pre-tournament friendly against the Warriors in Nigeria, was lured back into England by the Red Devils.
Manchester United have been struggling for goals after the club’s main forward, Marcus Rashford, suffered a long-term back injury.
This has forced the club’s technical team to go for Ighalo who once played for Watford in the Premiership.
Mushekwi played against Ighalo during the 2018 Chinese Super League.
The Zimbabwean forward finished as the fourth most prolific African striker that season with 15 goals, despite a delayed start to the campaign, in which he wasn’t favoured by Dalian Yifang coach.
Mushekwi ended up among the top 10 players in the Golden Boot race that was won by Chinese international forward Wu Lei with 27 goals.
Ighalo was second in that race with 21 goals, while Congolese forward Cedric Bakambu, who was then the most expensive African footballer in history, was fourth with 19 goals.
This week Mushekwi, who is in Turkey on pre-season with his Chinese second-tier league side Zhejiang Greentown, said Ighalo’s move showed there was quality in the Chinese leagues contrary to the belief that the foreign players who go there would be on their way out of the game.
“People just talk but Ighalo is a very good player,” said Mushekwi. “We did play against each other. Players are moving, people just talk but the Chinese League is as big as most top leagues in the world.
