Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed that January signing Odion Ighalo is in contention to start the first leg of Manchester United’s Europa League last-32 game against Club Bruges on Thursday.
The Nigeria striker, 30, made his debut in the 2-0 win over Chelsea last weekend when he came on as substitute.
“Well for me Odion is a different type of striker for us,” the boss told reporters in Belgium. “He’s a box striker, he’s a goalscorer. We’ve already seen in training that he really knows his craft.
“He knows how to play as a centre-forward and he’s a fantastic professional, and human being, and he’s already added to the squad. The boys have learned his song already, so they’ve taken to him.
“So I hope he’s going to sharpen up quickly, because we know he’s been out of season and he needs to do a little bit extra after training most of the time and we try to give him as much game time as possible.
“Unfortunately he didn’t score against Chelsea, he had a good chance, that would have been a good start, but I’m sure he will take his chances.”
The Nigerian striker has joined the club from Shanghai Greenland Shenhua until the end of this season and made his anticipated debut during the final minutes of Monday’s 2-0 Premier League victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where he replaced Anthony Martial late on.
The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations top scorer showed flashes of his combative qualities against the Blues and almost scored, too, when a low shot was saved by Chelsea goalkeeper Willy Cabballero.
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