With the Premier League season resuming on June 17 Odion Ighalo will be looking to boost Manchester United's chances on pipping teams like Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers to a Champions League place.

And now the season is resuming after an extended break because of the coronavirus, United have agreed a deal with Shanghai Shenhua to extend Ighalo's loan until January 2021.

Since the striker joined Ole Gunnar Solskjær's side in January he has become a fan favourite, scoring four goals in eight games.

The Nigerian grew up supporting The Red Devils and initially came in to support the team whilst his United teammate Marcus Rashford was sidelined with a back injury.

  • What does Ighalo have to offer?

The 30-year-old forward is one of United's most experienced players with only four other players at the club who are older than him.

The former Watford man is no stranger to the top flight of English football netting 16 times in the league for The Hornets.

Ighalo has shown his pace, quick thinking, skill and strength already in his short time with the club, with his main highlight so far being his strike in the Europa League against LASK.

  • United's luck with loan deals

It is fair to say that over the years Manchester United have brought some big names to the club on loan, most recently when former United manager Louis van Gaal brought in Colombian forward Radamel Falcao on loan from Monaco.

The now-34-year-old only managed four goals in 26 league games in the 2014/15 season and the club decided not to exercise the option of signing Falcao permanently when his loan spell expired.

United also saw Sir Alex Ferguson bring Carlos Tevez to the club, during the Argentine's time at the club he won: two Premier League titles, one Football League Cup, one FA Community Shield, one UEFA Champions League and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Tevez scored 19 Premier League goals for the club whilst also having success out of the league too, in particular in the 2007/08 Champions League campaign where he scored five goals to help Ferguson's men clinch the clubs third-ever Champions League cup.

Although as it is well known, his time at United ended bitterly as Tevez did not accept to join United on a permanent deal and joined rivals Manchester City.

Finally, Sir Alex Ferguson managed to get the services of the veteran striker Henrik Larsson.

In 2007, at 35-years-old Larsson signed on loan to help United as they were short on strikers due to injuries.

The Swede only managed one goal in seven Premier League appearances, but did play a part in the title-winning season.

Ferguson praised Larsson for his off-field antics in the dressing room.

Obviously Larsson and Ighalo are two completely different players although Ighalo could offer a mix of both on and off-field support for Solskjær's men.

  • Solskjær's thoughts

When appearing as a guest on MUTV Group Chat, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær said: "They [Shanghai Greenland Shenhua] have been great towards us, allowing him to play for his dream club. It’s been a dream for him and hopefully he can finish what he started and win a trophy with us.”

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