The new fans’ favourite at Old Trafford has revealed that he did not have the names of his heroes written on the back of his United jersey as a kid because he could not afford one.
United’s on-loan striker Odion Ighalo has told the club’s official magazine that he would have loved to have a jersey branded with the names of the legendary Paul Scholes, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andy Cole, and Dwight Yorke while growing up in Lagos.
But living in poverty means he could not afford to own any of those, necessitating the need to purchase an unbranded jersey of his darling club.
Remarkably, Ighalo has transformed from supporting Manchester United from a distance to featuring for the first team.
Since joining on a temporary deal from Shanghai Shenhua, the former Watford ace has netted four goals in eight appearances for the Red Devils.
His form has quickly made the 30-year-old the new crowd favourite, and he has taken the time to clear the air on why he didn’t have a club shirt with letters printed on the back of it as a youngster.
“I had a United jersey but no player name on the back,” the former Granada star said in quotes obtained from United’s official website.
“It was one of the old blue ones but definitely no name on the back. You have to pay to put names on the back, and there was no money to pay for that! I just got the United top.
“It was a blue one but a long time ago. I can’t remember as I was very, very young.”