Odion Ighalo

Club

Al-Wehda

Position

Centre-Forward

Nationality

Nigeria

Date of birth

1989-06-16

Birthplace

Lagos, Nigeria

Height

1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)

Weight

174 lbs

Shirt number

9

Odion Jude Ighalo (born 16 June 1989) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi Professional League club Al Hilal and the Nigeria national team.

After starting his career at Nigerian clubs Prime and Julius Berger, Ighalo moved to Norwegian club Lyn in 2007. A year later, he was signed by Italian club Udinese, spending most of his tenure on two separate loan spells with Spanish club Granada. In 2014, he signed for Championship club Watford and was integral in the club's promotion to the Premier League in the 2014–15 season. In January 2017, Ighalo joined Chinese Super League club Changchun Yatai for a reported £20 million, before moving onto Shanghai Shenhua. In January 2020, Ighalo returned to the Premier League, joining Manchester United on loan, initially until the end of the 2019–20 season; the loan was then extended until January 2021.

Ighalo made his debut for the Nigeria national team in March 2015 against Uganda. He represented the nation at the 2018 World Cup and was the highest goalscorer in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign. He eventually led Nigeria to a third place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, where he finished in the competition's Team of the Tournament and was crowned top scorer.