Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has suggested that January loan signing Odion Ighalo will be in contention to face Chelsea on Monday.
As noted by BBC Sport, the Red Devils swooped for the 30-year-old on deadline day to bolster their attacking options for the rest of the season.
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As well as struggling for goals, United suffered a setback last month after Marcus Rashford picked up a back injury, and so Ighalo will potentially have a crucial role to play for them in the coming months.
The Nigerian international didn’t travel with the rest of the squad for their training camp this week, and so it has been unclear if he will be available to make his debut against Chelsea on Monday night.
Solskjaer though has now suggested that Ighalo will be in the match day squad for the encounter, and the Man Utd boss certainly sounded positive about his new charge’s ability to make an immediate impact.
“Yeah, he is going to travel with us,” he told the club’s official site. “We will just see his fitness work this week and I think we will get him sharp. We want to integrate him as quickly as we can because, of course, he is desperate to play for us.”
Time will tell if things go to plan this week for Ighalo to be involved, be it off the bench or in the starting line up, but given his quality in the final third and his previous experience in the Premier League with Watford, United will hope that he can make an impact sooner rather than later.
Solskjaer also hinted at a triple fitness boost from Scott McTominay, Axel Tuanzebe and Timothy Fosu-Mensah as per the report above, as he believes that the trio will all be stepping up their match fitness next week to also get back in contention moving forward.