Odion Ighalo has revealed that he rejected a chance to link up with Jose Mourinho at Tottenham in favour of a move to Manchester United last year.
The 31-year-old joined the Red Devils from Shanghai Shenhua on loan in January 2020 to seal a move to his childhood club.
Ighalo has revealed that the opportunity to join Manchester United was too good to turn down, even though he had to take a pay cut.
‘That was close – my agent called me and told me they (Tottenham) had offered to match whatever I was earning but once I heard Manchester United were interested, there was no turning back,” Ighalo told Sky Sports.
“I couldn’t think about anything else other than making the Manchester United deal work. I was going to have to take a pay cut but I didn’t care, I just wanted the deal to happen.
“I just wanted to play for Manchester United. It’s my dream club and it was always going to be a privilege for me to play at Old Trafford.
“I’m just so grateful to God that it happened. Every day I wake up and I know that I am an ex-Manchester United player. It is something that I will never take for granted.”
Ighalo scored five goals in 23 appearances for Manchester United before leaving in the January transfer window to link up with Al Shabab in Saudi Arabia.
The former Watford striker also revealed that he had offers from West Brom and West Ham to stay in Premier League.
“Yeah, there was the possibility of West Ham and West Brom to stay in the Premier League, which I thought about,” he added.
“But after being at Manchester United, the biggest club in England if not the world, what else could I possibly do in the Premier League?
“I had good offers to stay in England, but I just didn’t think I could stay after achieving my dream of playing for the club I had supported since I was young.
“I came all the way from China because it was Manchester United when I had already rejected other offers because United has always been my dream.”
