Odion Ighalo

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Odion Ighalo
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Ighalo with Watford in 2014
Personal information
Full name Odion Jude Ighalo
Date of birth (1989-06-16) 16 June 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Watford
Number 24
Youth career
2000–2005 Prime
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2006 Prime 5 (0)
2006–2007 Julius Berger 10 (5)
2007–2008 Lyn 20 (9)
2008–2014 Udinese 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– Watford 47 (30)
International career‡
2009 Nigeria U20 3 (0)
2015– Nigeria 7 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 00:00, 4 January 2016 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 November 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 years / Lyn

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 scored 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.[2]

Udinese / Granada

On 30 July 2008 Ighalo signed for Udinese Calcio in Italy, moving alongside teammate Jo Inge Berget and agreeing to a five-year contract.[3] He appeared rarely in Serie A in his debut season, scoring against Cagliari Calcio in a 6–2 home routing –[4] 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.[5][6][7] He scored 17 times in his first year (playoffs included)[8] and five in the second, as both seasons ended in promotion;[9][10] this was interspersed with a brief loan stint back in Italy with A.C. Cesena.[11]

Ighalo continued playing with Granada in the following years, still owned by the Udine side.[12][13] 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.[14]

Watford

Ighalo joined Watford on a season-long loan deal from Udinese, on 29 July 2014.[15] 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 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.[16] 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;[17] 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.[18]

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.[19] 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.[20]

International career

On 24 March 2015, after a series of solid performances for Watford, newly appointed Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh selected Ighalo for the first time, and the latter stated, "I feel good because it is my dream to play for my country".[21] He gained his first cap two days later, starting in a 0–1 friendly home loss to Uganda.[22]

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 13 June 2015 Ahmadu Bello, Kaduna, Nigeria  Chad
2–0
2–0
 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification[23]
2. 11 October 2015 Edmond Machtens, Brussels, Belgium  Cameroon
3–0
3–0
 Friendly

Personal life

Ighalo is known to be a devout Christian who also often dedicates part of his wages for Nigerian charitable organisations to help impoverished children, schools and widows below the poverty line.[24]

Club statistics

As of 4 January 2016[25]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Prime 2005[26] Nigeria National League 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Julius Berger 2006[26] Nigeria Premier League 10 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 5
Lyn 2007[26] Tippeligaen 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 3
2008[26] Tippeligaen 13 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 6
Udinese 2008–09[26] Serie A 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1
Granada (loan) 2009–10[26] Segunda División B 26 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 16
Cesena (loan) 2010–11[25] Serie A 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Granada (loan) 2010–11[25] Segunda División 25 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 5
2011–12[25] La Liga 30 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 31 6
2012–13[25] La Liga 28 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 30 5
2013–14[25] La Liga 16 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 18 4
Watford 2014–15[25] Championship 35 20 1 0 2 0 0 0 38 20
2015–16[25] Premier League 20 13 1 0 0 0 0 0 21 13
Career total 224 81 8 3 2 0 0 0 234 84

References

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  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
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  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 25.5 25.6 25.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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