Bruno Fernandez and odion

Bruno Fernandes and Odion Ighalo can spare United's blushes

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Feb 2, 2020 10:14 AM

Bruno Fernandes

After months of speculation and moves to acquire the services of Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United finally have their man. The Portuguese put pen to paper on a five and a half year deal which could rise from an initial £46.6m to £68m with add-ons. The 25 year old scored 63 goals in 137 games for the Lisbon based team before making his debut for Manchester United on Saturday night in a 0:0 stalemate against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford. He had a fairly good debut and was on the pitch for the entirety of the match, picking up a yellow card.

Bruno Fernandes became the 6th Portuguese to play for Manchester United following in the footsteps of Bebe (who had a horrible spell playing only 7 times in a 4 year spell), Diogo Dalot, Joel Pereira (goalkeeper), Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo. He is also the 4th player to have joined the Red Devils from Sporting Lisbon with Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Marcos Rojo preceding him. The midfielder has played 19 times for the Portuguese National Team scoring 2 goals.

Odion Ighalo

Odion Ighalo was snapped up on a 6 month loan in what could be shocking to a lot of Manchester United fans. The rumours started days before the transfer deadline and it only felt like a rumour even though the Red Devils needed a proper number 9 after the team's top scorer Marcus Rashford picked up a back injury that could rule him out for 3 months. After the Ighalo story, there were also rumours going on around the football world that Manchester United were also interested in Bournemouth's Josh King who's manager had even given up on losing and Norwich City's Teemu Pukki. You didn't expect teams battling relegation to allow their best players go especially if they are the ones the responsibility of goal scoring is dependent on.

The Ighalo to United story gathered momentum and boom on transfer deadline day, at night precisely a deal was agreed on to bring the Nigerian born striker to the Theatre of Dreams. The 30 year old who played for Watford for 3 years in the Premier League (2014- 2017) scoring 33 goals in 82 appearances moved to China to team up with Changchun Yatai. He scored 36 goals in 55 games for Yatai before he was signed by Shanghai Greenland Shenhua making 17 appearances weighing in with 10 goals. Odion Jude Ighalo is believed to have been a Manchester United fan all his life and he is officially the first ever Nigerian to sign for the Red Devils. 

Verdict

United did decent business in the transfer window though leaving things a bit late but will Fernandes and Ighalo be able to push the team to getting that coveted 4th position in the Premier League?

Ighalo on the other hand is a quick fix or supposed to be for the number 9 position in the team. Hopefully he would come good but if you look at the team currently, there's no better number 9 than the Nigerian. Hopefully his past Premier League experience would be brought to the fore.

Bruno Fernandes is young and he's such a top talent but the rigours of the Premier League can be overwhelming and humbling. He will come good no doubt and would prove to be worth every penny barring future recruitment made by the team.

Let's hope a Bruno-Odion partnership will work but a Champions League spot for Manchester United is hard to call at this point.