Odion Ighalo wins 2019 AFCON



Goals Assists
Odion Ighalo Nigeria. 5. 1
Adam Ounas Algeria. 3. 1
Sadio Mane Senegal. 3. 1
Cedric Bakambu DR Congo 3. 0



Its official

Profile of Odion Ighalo


Odion Jude Ighalo (born 16 June 1989) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Chinese club Shanghai Greenland Shenhua and the Nigerian national team.

Odion Ighalo


Personal information
Full nameOdion Jude Ighalo
Date of birth16 June 1989 (age 30)
Place of birthLagos, Nigeria
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing positionStriker


Club information
Current team
Shanghai Shenhua
Number 9
Youth career
2000–2005Prime
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2005Prime 5 (0)
2006Julius Berger 10 (5)
2007–2008Lyn 20 (9)
2008–2014Udinese 6 (1)
2009–2010 → Granada (loan) 26 (16)
2010–2011 → Cesena (loan) 3 (0)
2011–2014 → Granada (loan) 95 (17)
2014 → Watford (loan) 8 (3)
2014–2017Watford 82 (33)
2017–2018Changchun Yatai 55 (36)
2019–Shanghai Shenhua 9 (7)


National team‡
2009Nigeria U20 3 (0)
2015–Nigeria 35 (16)

Honours
Africa Cup of Nations
2019 Egypt
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:41, 12 July 2019 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 July 2019

After starting his career at Prime and Julius Berger, he moved to Norway's Lyn in 2007. A year later he was signed by Udinese, spending most of his tenure loaned out, notably at Granada, before signing for Watford in 2014. He also competed professionally in China, with Changchun Yatai and Shanghai Greenland Shenhua.

Ighalo made his debut for Nigeria in 2015. He represented the nation at the 2018 World Cup and the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Club career


Early years / Lyn

Born in Lagos and raised in Edo, Ighalo played in his country with Prime and Julius Berger, where he was discovered by FIFA agent Marcelo Houseman who recommended him to Atta Aneke, being subsequently taken on trial by Norway's Lyn.

He made his Tippeligaen debut on 16 September 2007 at the age of just 18, scoring in a 2–0 home win against Viking. He scored six goals in 13 matches in his second year to help his team to the seventh position, and subsequently arose interest from other clubs in the country, with Brann reporting Lyn to the Football Association of Norway for unfairness in the negotiation process.

Udinese / Granada

On 30 July 2008, Ighalo signed for Udinese in Italy, moving alongside teammate Jo Inge Berget and agreeing to a five-year contract. He appeared rarely in Serie A in his debut season, scoring against Cagliari in a 6–2 home routing – four of his five league appearances came as a late substitute.

Ighalo was loaned to Granada in summer 2009, as part of the partnership agreement between Udinese and the Spaniards. He scored 17 times in his first year (playoffs included) and five in the second, as both seasons ended in promotion; this was interspersed with a brief loan stint back in Italy, with Cesena.

Ighalo continued playing with Granada in the following years, still owned by the Udine side. He played his first La Liga match on 27 August 2011, starting and playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–1 home loss to Real Betis.

Watford

Ighalo joined Watford on a season-long loan deal from Udinese, on 29 July 2014. He made his debut for the English club in the first round of the Football League Cup at Stevenage on 12 August, and scored his first goal in the Championship against Brentford on 30 September by tucking the ball home after his initial penalty was saved by David Button, in a 2–1 home win.

On 24 October 2014, Watford terminated Ighalo's loan and re-signed him on a permanent deal the same day after Udinese released him from his contract. Exactly three months later, he scored four second-half goals and was voted Man of the match in a 7–2 home routing of Blackpool, who led 0–2 at half time; he took his league tally to 14 on 10 February 2015, after netting a brace to help his team come from behind at Brentford to win it 2–1 – his second came through an injury time header.

Ighalo scored in his Premier League debut on 8 August 2015, replacing José Manuel Jurado 16 minutes from time and putting the visitors ahead 2–1 in an eventual 2–2 draw away against Everton for the season opener. He netted twice in a 2–0 home win over West Ham United on 31 October, reaching seven goals for the season and becoming the highest club scorer in the competition after just 11 matches.

On 20 December 2015, Ighalo scored in a Watford victory for the fourth consecutive time, netting a brace in a 3–0 win over Liverpool. His five-goal haul earned him December's Premier League Player of the Month, while his manager Quique Sánchez Flores won the equivalent award.

Ighalo broke a 599-minute personal scoring drought on 13 March 2016, with a goal in a 2–1 win at holders Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, putting the Hornets into the last four for the first time in nine years. On 12 August he signed a new five-year contract but, the following season, he scored just one league goal and did not find the net in any of his last 15 games.

Changchun Yatai

On 31 January 2017, Ighalo joined Chinese Super League club Changchun Yatai for a reported £20 million. He ranked second in the scoring charts in his second season at 21, but his team suffered relegation.

Shanghai Shenhua

Ighalo transferred to Shanghai Greenland Shenhua on 14 February 2019. In March, he said he turned down a move to Barcelona the previous month.

International career


On 24 March 2015, after a series of strong performances for Watford, newly appointed Nigeria interim coach Daniel Amokachi selected Ighalo for the first time, and the latter stated, "I feel good because it is my dream to play for my country". He won his first cap two days later, starting in a 0–1 friendly home loss to Uganda.

Ighalo was initially named as one of three overage players in Nigeria's squad for the 2016 Olympic tournament in Brazil, but he ended up not travelling with the final squad. In June 2018, he was named in the 23-man squad for the upcoming edition of the FIFA World Cup in Russia, making his first appearance in the competition by playing 73 minutes in the 0–2 group stage defeat against Croatia; in October, he revealed that his family had received death threats after he failed to score in the tournament.

Ighalo scored seven goals in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign, the most by any player, to help Nigeria qualify for the finals in Egypt later that year. He was included in Gernot Rohr's squad,[45] taking part in all the matches and finding the net against Burundi in the group phase (1–0), Cameroon in the round of 16 (3–2 win), Algeria in the semi-finals (1–2 loss)[48] and Tunisia in the third-place playoff (1–0).



International

Africa Cup of Nations third place: 2019

Individual

Africa Cup of Nations top scorer: 2019
Premier League Player of the Month: December 2015

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odion_Ighalo

Congrats jude idion Ighalo ....

Like for Ighalo

Share for Mahrez

So this is our consolation prize okwaya

watch match highlights here
.........
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ_I-1zxK3Q........

Our own came through.

Congrats Ighalo 'big yash man'.

My bobo

Congratulations

lol.

Nigerians are ungrateful bastard.

____fuck this Islamic tribalistic bastard Shithole, forever underdeveloped hellhole. Bleep you all

He deserves it..

But Team Nigeria is already back in Nigeria, right?

Best number 9 of the tournament if you ask me

congratulations brother.. we are proud of u!!

Congratulations Ighalo.

Good for him

The real goat

Consolation prize

These outstanding cap fits him...!

Congratulations on your well deserved achievement on the just concluded Total Afcon 2019 campetitions

Kudos to the Agege brought up

Alaye una dey there

the woman wey dey sell akara for my street don close after I watch this afcon final finish. and na d akara I dey normally chop sleep for nyt because e dey cheap for me. I'm just going to bed with empty stomach.

Wow

Nigeria's best player at AFCON

Argue with your keyboard

Herdsmenson:
Nigerians are ungrateful bastard.

____fuck this Islamic tribalistic bastard Shithole, forever underdeveloped hellhole. Bleep you all

Poverty is a bastard

Nice one!

This guy remind me of Julius Ahaowa

The real GOAT after Ronaldo compared to the fighting Messi !!!

sawdi:
The real goat

Herdsmenson:
Nigerians are ungrateful bastard.

____fuck this Islamic tribal fistic bastard Shithole, forever underdeveloped hellhole. Bleep you all

Man needs to be criticise in other to put in more effort