Odion Ighalo included in Manchester Utd’s Europa League squad
Manchester United have added Odion Ighalo to their Europa League squad for the knockout rounds of the competition.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have made a total of five changes to their squad for the knockout stages of the competition, with two players left out and three added.
Ighalo, 30, and fellow January signings Bruno Fernandes and Nathan Bishop have all been included in the Red Devils’ 13-man A list submitted to UEFA, while Ashley Young and Marcos Rojo have been omitted after departing the club for Inter Milan and Estudiantes respectively.
Having never played in neither the Champions League nor Europa league before since moving to Europe from now-defunct Julius Berger 13 years ago, the striker will be making his debut in european competitions.
The ex-Nigeria international joined the English club on loan from Shanghai Shenhua.
He has been assigned the No. 25 jersey.
Deadline-day signing, Ighalo sat out Sunday’s FA Cup fourth round fixture at Tranmere, which ended 6-0 in United’s favour.
But he could make his United debut on February 17, when the Old Trafford side host Chelsea.
Three days after the Chelsea game, Manchester United — who had until midnight on Monday, February 3 to make changes to their Europa League squad for the knockout stages — will face Club Brugge in the first leg of their last-32 tie on February 20.
With Brugge retaining David Okereke and Emmanuel Denis in their list, three nigerians could be involved in the match.
Manchester United squad for 2019-20 Europa League knockout stages
A-list players
Eric Bailly, Diogo Dalot, David De Gea, Bruno Fernandes, Fred, Odion Ighalo, Daniel James, Matej Kovar, Victor Lindelof, Anthony Martial, Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic, Sergio Romero.
Club trained players
Jesse Lingard, Scott McTominay, Andreas Pereira, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Axel Tuanzebe.
Association-trained players
Nathan Bishop, Lee Grant, Phil Jones, Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
B-list players
Ethan Laird, Max Taylor, Brandon Williams, Di’Shon Bernard, Teden Mengi, James Garner, Arnau Puigmal, Largie Ramazani, Dylan Levitt, Mason Greenwood, D’Mani Mellor, Tahith Chong, Angel Gomes.