Watford open to Ighalo’s China move

Watford could be ready to cash in on misfiring striker, Odion Ighalo, in English football’s great thrall of China.
Shanghai Shenhua, managed by former Sunderland and Brighton boss, Gus Poyet, are interested in linking Ighalo with Carlos Tevez, the world’s highest-paid footballer, in a new dream team up front.
Although the Hornets turned down a £35 million deadline day bid from Manchester United – the club Ighalo supported as a boy – 12 months ago, and the player himself rejected a £37.5 million move to Shanghai SIPD last summer, the sands may be shifting.
And if Watford manager, Walter Mazzarri, can line up a replacement before the end of the month, Ighalo could join Chelsea’s £52 million Brazilian export, Oscar, and former Manchester City title winner, Tevez, who is reportedly being paid £615,000-a-week, on the Chinese Super League gravy train.
The Chinese FA is set to reduce the quota of overseas players allowed in a team from five to four.
And the Beijing government has intervened to state they would regulate transfer fees and wages after Chinese clubs broke the Asian transfer record four times last year.
And after his Nigerian international teammate, John Mikel Obi, sealed a move to Tianjin TEDA last week, Ighalo may follow him to the Far East.
Ighalo was English football’s leading scorer in 2015 with 30 goals, but in the last calendar year, his output slumped to just six in all competitions – and his strike rate in the Premier League has nosedived to just two in his last 31 appearances.
There is a growing sense at Vicarage Road that a fresh start would suit all parties, especially if Shanghai can offer him monster wages of £200,000-a-week.