Shanghai Offers Ighalo an eye-watering £400K per week to come back to China
Lagos, Nigeria – Odion Ighalo has a huge dilemma, and it is a good one. Should he return to China after his loan spell at Manchester United or not? Should he pursue his dream of playing for Manchester United – a club he supports as a child, or return to China to re-join his team Shanghai Shenhua and earn a whopping £400,000 per week salary.
The Nigerian international took a 40 per cent pay-cut on his £300,000-a-week salary in China to join United on a six months loan. Ighalo’s current contract at Shanghai runs out at the end of 2021, but United have the option to buy him outright in the next transfer window.
He has already scored four goals for United since joining on loan from Shanghai Shenhua in January, and as a result, he value has gone up both in Manchester and in China. United is planning to keep him. But the Chinese big spenders are offering Ighalo a new contract of £400,000 per week to lure him back to China.
the bumper payrise from the Chinese club
What a dilemma, pay cut or pay increase?
Although Ighalo would need to take a pay cut to turn his temporary Old Trafford switch into a permanent one. Now, China has suddently offered a pay increase for his service. If you were Ighalo, what would you do, take a pay cut in Manchester, or pay increse in China?
When the Nigerian left China to return to England in the winter transfer window, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer securing a last-minute deal to bring him to Old Trafford, many felt it was a panic buy by United who was in need of an attacking player after losing Marcus Rashford to long-term injury. However, Ighalo has silenced the doubters by getting off to an impressive start with four goals in eight appearances so far, wining the player of the month for March.
It is also understood that United are considering a permanent deal once the Nigerian striker’s original six-month loan deal expires.
With the new offer from China, Shanghai want to keep him until December 2024 on £400,000 a week, after his contract expires in 2021.
The 30-year-old would have to make up his mind if he would continue chasing his childhood dream of playing for Manchester United, or seeing that age is not on his side, make a move back to China to rejoin Shanghai Shenhua and earn a once-in-a-life-time salary.
Ighalo has always said it has been a dream playing for United, the club he supported as a boy and his impact with the Red Devils has been both instant and impressive. Dream or money? Which would you go for?