Odion Ighalo

Odion Ighalo

Ighalo with Watford in 2014
Personal information
Full nameOdion Jude Ighalo
Date of birth16 June 1989
Place of birthLagos, Nigeria
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing positionStriker
Club information
Current team
Watford
Number24
Youth career
2000–2005Prime
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2005–2006Prime5(0)
2006–2007Julius Berger10(5)
2007–2008Lyn20(9)
2008–2014Udinese6(1)
2009–2010→ Granada (loan)28(17)
2010→ Cesena (loan)3(0)
2011–2014→ Granada (loan)99(18)
2014→ Watford (loan)8(3)
2014–Watford26(17)
National team‡
2009Nigeria U203(0)
2015–Nigeria2(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:19, 25 April 2015 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22 March 2015

Odion Jude Ighalo (born 16 June 1989) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays for English club Watford and the Nigeria national team as a striker.

Club career

Early career

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

He made his Tippeligaen debut on 16 September 2007 at the age of just 18, scoring in a 2–0 home win against Viking FK. He netted six goals in 13 games in his second year to help his team to the seventh position, and subsequently arose interest from other clubs in the country, with SK Brann reporting Lyn to the Football Association of Norway for unfairness in the negotiation process.[1]

Udinese

On 30 July 2008 Ighalo signed for Udinese Calcio in Italy, moving alongside teammate Jo Inge Berget and agreeing to a five-year contract.[2] He appeared rarely in Serie A in his debut season, scoring against Cagliari Calcio in a 6–2 home routing –[3] four of his five league appearances came as a late substitute.

Ighalo was loaned to Granada CF in the 2009 summer, as part of the partnership agreement between Udinese and the Spaniards.[4][5][6] He scored 17 times in his first year (playoffs included)[7] and five in the second, as both seasons ended in promotion;[8][9] this was interspersed with a brief loan stint back in Italy with A.C. Cesena.[10]

Ighalo continued playing with Granada in the following years, still owned by the Udine side.[11][12] 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.[13]

Watford

Ighalo joined Watford on a season-long loan deal from Udinese, on 29 July 2014.[14] He made his debut for the English in the first round of the Football League Cup at Stevenage on 12 August, and scored his first goal against Brentford on 30 September by tucking the ball home after his initial penalty was saved by David Button.

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.[15]

On 24 January 2015, Ighalo scored 4 second half goals and was voted man of the match as Watford defeated Blackpool 7–2, after Blackpool had lead 0–2 at half time.[16] Ighalo took his tally to 14 goals after scoring twice, including an injury time winner as Watford came from a goal down to beat Brentford 2–1.[17]

International career

After a start off the bench at Watford, Odion Ighalo started to show some outstanding performances for Watford in England. This was not overlooked by newly appointed Nigeria national coach Daniel Amokachi. He selected Ighalo to represent the super eagles of Nigeria for the first time. The Watford striker expressed his joy about his selection pronouncing I feel good because it is my dream to play for my country.[18] In his first game for Nigeria, he had the chance to start alongside 1.FC Köln star Anthony Ujah.[19]

Career statistics

As of Match played 18 April 2015[20]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Prime 2005[21] Nigeria National League 5000000050
Julius Berger 2006[21] Nigeria Premier League 105000000105
Lyn 2007[21] Tippeligaen 7300000073
2008[21] Tippeligaen 136000000136
Udinese 2008–09[21] Serie A 6100000061
Granada (loan) 2009–10[21] Segunda División B 28170000002817
Cesena (loan) 2010–11[20] Serie A 3010000040
Granada (loan) 2010–11[20] Segunda División 255000000255
2011–12[20] La Liga 306100000316
2012–13[20] La Liga 284210000305
2013–14[20] La Liga 162220000184
Watford 2014–15[20] Championship 33201020003620
Career total 2046973200021472

References

  1. ↑ "Lyn, Brann og Odion Ighalo" (in Norwegian). FC Lyn. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
  2. ↑ "Blir trist å forlate Lyn" (in Norwegian). FC Lyn. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
  3. ↑ "Udinese-Cagliari 6–2: Quagliarella saluta nella festa del goal" [Udinese-Cagliari 6–2: Quagliarella salutes in goal party] (in Italian). Goal.com. 31 May 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  4. ↑ "Apuesta de futuro por el Granada CF" [Granada CF bets on future] (in Spanish). Granada CF. 10 July 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
  5. ↑ "Pistoletazo de salida al Granada C.F. 2009/2010" [Starting gun to Granada C.F. 2009/2010] (in Spanish). Granada CF. 23 July 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  6. ↑ "Odion Ighalo, nuevo jugador del Granada C.F." [Odion Ighalo, new Granada C.F. player] (in Spanish). Granada CF. 22 August 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  7. ↑ "El Granada, a medio palmo del ascenso" [Granada, inches away from promotion] (in Spanish). Ideal. 16 May 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  8. ↑ "Granada, en Primera 35 años después" [Granada, in Primera 35 years after] (in Spanish). Marca. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  9. ↑ "Ighalo, el goleador oportuno" [Ighalo, the timely scorer] (in Spanish). El País. 19 June 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  10. ↑ "Ufficiale: Ighalo al Cesena" [Official: Ighalo to Cesena] (in Italian). Tutto Mercato Web. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  11. ↑ "Ighalo vuelve cedido a Granada" [Ighalo returns to Granada on loan] (in Spanish). Marca. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  12. ↑ "Ighalo jugará en el Granada su quinta campaña consecutiva cedido por Udinense [sic]" [Ighalo to play his fifth consecutive campaign with Granada loaned by Udinense] (in Spanish). Ideal. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  13. ↑ "Rubén Castro hace justicia" [Rubén Castro does justice] (in Spanish). El País. 28 August 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  14. ↑ "Udinese striker Odion Ighalo agrees one-year loan switch to Watford". Watford Observer. 29 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  15. ↑ "Official: Ighalo signs permanent deal". Watford F.C. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  16. ↑ "Watford vs. Blackpool 24/01/2015 Match Report". BBC. 24 January 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  17. ↑ http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31105995.app
  18. ↑ http://allafrica.com/stories/201503250088.html
  19. ↑ http://www.national-football-teams.com/matches/report/12751/Nigeria_Uganda.html
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 "O. IGHALO". Soccerway. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 "Odion Ighalo". National Football Teams. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

External links