Juan Mata, Solskjaer Say The Same Thing About Manchester United Newcomer Ighalo

Spain international Juan Mata has echoed the words of Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer by revealing that transfer deadline day loan signing from Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, Odion Ighalo is a player with good character and has backed him to score goals, having had the experience of playing in the Premier League.

Despite Ighalo's inactivity for more than two months, the 2019 AFCON Golden Boot winner has been thrown into the deep end, making appearances off the bench in three consecutive matches and has shown glimpses of his potential.

Asked by United's official webpage what he has made of Ighalo's start to life at the club, Mata answered : "Odion has experience of playing in the Premier League and hopefully he will score many goals for us from now until the end of the season, and, as the manager said, he’s a good character as well and he’s got a good personality which has fitted straight into the dressing room. The better he does, then the better for us – and I wish him all the best."

Mata arrived in Manchester United from Premier League rivals Chelsea in January 2014 and he has explained why it may be difficult for Ighalo and another winter singing Bruno Fernandes to acclimatize to the team straightaway.

"It’s probably not ideal because you don’t have a pre-season tour or the time to really get into the pattern of the team, but it depends.

"It takes time for a player to settle and we shouldn’t expect any miracles from anyone, but I’m sure that with the right mindset and the right qualities like Bruno and Odion have they will be a big help for us.

"Sometimes you have seen players arrive in January and they have been a great success for the clubs they’ve signed for, maybe even sometimes better than when players have arrived in the summer.

"So I don’t think it has a lot of impact in the long term. Maybe in the short term it’s not the easiest but in the long term it’s irrelevant," the Spaniard added.

Ighalo is in contention to play his third game in a week for Manchester United in Thursday's Europa League round of 32 tie against Club Brugge.

Igho Kingsley

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