Ighalo Hails Former Udinese Teammate Now Impressing At Man United

On-loan United striker Odion Ighalo is confident there is more to come from fellow January signing Bruno Fernandes.

The Nigerian’s and the Portuguese’s careers crossed paths a few years ago at Udinese, where they were teammates for a while.

Ighalo was a Udinese player for six years, although a lot of those years were spent on loan spells at Granada, Cesena, and Watford before his stay at the English side was made permanent.

During that period, a certain 19-year-old Fernandes joined Udinese from Novara and became an instant hit in the Serie A.

The Portuguese star has gotten even better since completing a £68m switch to Old Trafford in January, looking every inch like an astute bit of business by United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Fernandes has registered three goals and four assists for the 20-time English champions, with the latest of his assists leading to a spectacular Ighalo goal in the 5-0 drubbing of LASK in the Europa League.

The Nigerian forward himself joined United in a surprise deadline day deal from Shanghai Shenhua, having spent the last three years in the Chinese Super League.

The 30-year-old striker has revealed that fans have only seen glimpses of his former teammate’s talent, and there’s more to come from the midfielder.

“It’s not my first time playing with Bruno. I played with him at Udinese back in 2010,” Ighalo told the BBC in quotes carried by The Metro. 

“He’s a great player. He has vision. He’s the guy who wants the ball because he can do something fantastic with it if you give him space.

“He’s a good passer of the ball, and he’s what this team needs to score goals.

“You’re still going to see more and better from him because he is still getting used to the Premier League,” he said.

“When he’s finally settled, Bruno Fernandes is going to do well in this team.

‘Before I came here, I knew Manchester United were looking at him, and I was hoping they would get him because he is a good player and I knew he was going to change the dynamic of the team.

“He’s not going to have the best game every time, but what he is going to bring to the team is going to be unbelievable.’