Odion Ighalo has yet to train at Manchester United‘s AON Training Complex – despite joining the club nearly two weeks ago.
Ighalo has been building up his fitness at the GB Taekwondo Centre in Manchester – right next to rivals Manchester City‘s Etihad Stadium.
With the United squad away at a warm-weather training camp in Spain, Ighalo has been working on a personalised fitness programme with performance coach Wayne Richardson.
Ighalo, on loan from Shanghai Shenhua for the rest of the season, did not travel to Marbella with the United squad over concerns about him being readmitted to the UK in the wake of the coronavirus sweeping China, which has already claimed more than 1,000 lives.
(Image: Twitter)
The striker remained in Manchester to work on his fitness, but is understood not to have trained at United’s Carrington training complex, despite it having state-of-the-art facilities.
United say the reason Ighalo is not training at their Carrington base is because the GB Taekwondo Centre is closer to the Lowry Hotel, where the 30-year-old is staying, and because most of the club’s fitness staff are out in Marbella.
Ighalo is working with Richardson today and on Friday, before joining up with his United team-mates ahead of Monday’s Premier League trip to Chelsea.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has already confirmed former Nigeria international Ighalo will travel with the squad to Stamford Bridge and is expected to be named in the 18-man squad.
The Reds moved for Ighalo after top scorer Marcus Rashford was ruled out for up to three months with a double stress fracture of the back. United have struggled for goals without Rashford and have brought in former Watford striker Ighalo to address the issue.
(Image: Twitter)
Explaining Ighalo’s absence from the training camp, Solskjaer said: “Odion will stay in Manchester, because since he has come from China in the last 14 days, the news of the virus there [means] we’re not sure if he’s going to be allowed back into England if he leaves the country again.
“So he’s staying here working with a personal coach on an individual programme and his family then can settle in England as well. That’s a plus.
“Of course, he might have liked to have come with the players and got to know them, but we don’t want to take that risk [of potential border restrictions tightening].”
