The Manchester United icon has admitted to being shocked by the move for the Nigerian, but the former defender expects the striker to win skeptics over with his display.
The former Valencia manager can’t believe that United did not make proper preparations to replace the departed duo of Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku, a situation that left the Old Trafford giants short on attacking options.
Sanchez and Lukaku both joined Inter Milan during the summer, leaving England international Marcos Rashford, French striker, Anthony Martial, and youngster, Greenwood, as United’s recognised strikers.
However, Rashford suffered a severe injury that’s likely to keep him out of action till April, and that forced United to go into the transfer market for a striker.
Despite being linked with PSG’s Edison Cavani and Bournemouth’s Josh King, the Red Devils eventually settled for retired Super Eagles striker Odion Ighalo.
The former Granada forward left Watford three years ago, moving to the Chinese Super League, where he was expected to see out the last days of a decent career, only for Manchester United to grab him on deadline day.
Disappointed with the club’s transfer business, Neville is confident that Ighalo can still attract the affections of the fans once the goals begin to roll in for him.
“Ighalo is the one that shocked everybody. We knew United were scrambling around because of the injury to [Marcus] Rashford,” the United legend said, as quoted by The Express.
“Why they’re scrambling around when they’ve known that [Alexis] Sanchez and [Romelu] Lukaku were leaving in the summer is beyond me.
“It still baffles me a little bit that a club can’t be smarter in the transfer market.
“That’s what we’ve come to expect from United at this moment in time. It’s not going to get any better it doesn’t seem.
“Ighalo, I liked him at Watford. What happens with him will have a big impact on the rest of the season.
“If he does succeed, people at United will gain confidence, and the fans will love him.”
Ighalo made a winning start to life with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men in a 2-0 defeat of Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge on Monday night.
