Ighalo grew up Andy Cole & Dwight Yorke in house crammed with 50 people

Manchester United's decision to sign Odion Ighalo on loan in the final few hours of deadline day last week certainly raised a few eyebrows.

The Nigeria international, 30, moved to Old Trafford from Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua for the remainder of the season and becomes the first player from the African country to play for United.

Ighalo scored freely in China but the abiding memory of most English fans is of the forward struggling for goals during his final season at Watford.

But what has happened to him since his last appearance in the Premier League and what can he offer a United side desperately short on firepower?

Why was United's need for a striker so great?

It was clear to everyone that United urgently needed reinforcements in attack as soon as Marcus Rashford went down clutching his back during their FA Cup replay against Wolves on January 15.

Rashford had scored 19 goals for United this season and losing him for three months with a stress fracture was the last thing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needed.

Yet their final two weeks of the January window were spent largely trying to get a deal for attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes over the line.

This they eventually did, allowing for an intensification of efforts to bring in a forward in the final few days before the deadline.

Having lost out to Borussia Dortmund in their efforts to sign the teenage wonderkid Erling Haaland, United were offered the chance to sign Edinson Cavani, Islam Slimani and Joshua King.

King, a United academy graduate who played twice for the first team under Sir Alex Ferguson, was interested but United refused to pay the £35million Bournemouth wanted for him.

Reports over the weekend also suggested United were rebuffed in an effort to sign Salomon Rondon on loan from Chinese club Dalian Yifang before they moved on to Ighalo.

Of course, the whole reason United needed a forward after Rashford's injury was because they allowed Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez to leave for Inter Milan last summer without replacing them.

The arrival of Ighalo at least now eases the scoring burden on the likes of Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood and Daniel James.

And their need for additional firepower has been highlighted by three consecutive Premier League matches without a goal, including Saturday's 0-0 with Wolves at Old Trafford.

It must be a dream move for Ighalo...

Absolutely. This is the kid who with 50 others crammed into the one house with a satellite dish in the impoverished Ajegunle neighbourhood in the Nigerian capital Lagos to catch a glimpse of United in action.

Ighalo grew up idolising the likes of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, and as a lifelong United supporter, this move really is a dream come true.

An old photograph of a young Ighalo wearing a United shirt during his childhood surfaced over the weekend.

So it's little wonder that Ighalo, in a state of shock and surprise, stayed up all night on Friday to complete the paperwork to move to Old Trafford.

His agent of 13 years, Atta Aneke, told Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten: 'Suddenly, in the middle of deadline day, things began to move. It was then 11pm [3pm GMT] in Shanghai. It was hectic business.

'Everyone had to stay awake until 5am, 6am in Shanghai.'

The next day, Ighalo, wearing a face mask to protect against the coronavirus, flew from Beijing to England to join up with his new team-mates.

He was all smiles as he left the Lowry Hotel in Manchester on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, in Lagos, parties and celebrations were held over the weekend to mark Ighalo's historic move.

What next for Ighalo?

United aren't in action until they travel to Chelsea on February 17 because of the new Premier League winter break.

Solskjaer has allowed his players a few days' holiday and the squad will then head off to Marbella in Spain for a training camp on Saturday.

It's then that Ighalo will really get to know his new team-mates and he could well make his United debut at Stamford Bridge or in the subsequent Europa League tie with Club Bruges in Belgium the following Thursday.

There wasn't time for a medical at United before sealing the deal for Ighalo but as he is on loan, this wasn't considered necessary.

United have paid £3m to sign Ighalo and will pay one third of his £300,000-a-week wages at Shanghai.

There is no option to buy outright at the end of the season, confirming Ighalo is a short-term fix that goes against the grain of United's recent acquisitions.

Where will he fit in?

Ighalo is an out-and-out centre forward, so will share duties with Martial, who usually plays in that position.

United lined up with James on the left side and Juan Mata on the right against Wolves, with new boy Fernandes in the No 10 role directly behind the striker.

It's likely that Ighalo may start on the bench in a number of games with Solskjaer starting with Martial, but he should still get plenty of action.

With Solskjaer conscious of the scoring burden now on Martial in Rashford's absence, he could well start Ighalo in certain cup matches.

By all accounts, Solskjaer is satisfied with the signing of Ighalo despite United being linked with more prominent targets during the window.

If he can score a few goals and keep United on course until Rashford returns near the end of the season, it will be job done.

What was his scoring record like in China?

Very good. Ighalo moved from Watford to Changchun Yatai for around £20m in January 2017 and scored 21 goals in 28 matches during his second season even as the club suffered relegation.

That was enough to make him the second-highest scorer in the Chinese Super League and followed the 15 goals he scored for them in 2017.

Ighalo was swiftly back in the top flight as Shanghai Shenhua signed him in February 2019, seeing him reunite with his former manager at Watford, Quique Sanchez Flores.

That came after Ighalo turned down the chance to join Barcelona on loan the previous month.

Barcelona wanted the kind of striker with the pace, power and physicality Ighalo could offer, but he was never likely to be the main man there.

He said at the time: 'It was meant to be a six-month loan and strictly as a back-up striker. It was nice to hear that Barcelona were interested and any footballer would be more than happy to take it.

'But with due respect I had just finished as the second-top scorer in China with 21 goals, I deserve better and didn't want to be a short-term player somewhere.'

He subsequently scored 10 goals in 19 matches for his new club either side of a mid-season injury absence.

During January, there was also genuine interest in Ighalo from Tottenham, themselves in search of a striker after Harry Kane's injury, but United won the chase.

But he struggled in the Premier League, right?

Certainly not initially. It was Ighalo's 20 goals - and those of strike partner Troy Deeney - that helped propel Watford to promotion from the Championship to the Premier League in 2015.

And he continued that rich vein of form on Watford's return to the top flight, scoring 14 goals before the new year and even winning the Premier League Player of the Month award in December after scoring in six successive games.

But the goals then dried up, with Ighalo scoring just one in the league and two in the FA Cup between January and the end of the season.

It was a tricky time personally for Ighalo as his father passed away but when the drought continued into the following season - he scored just once before moving to China - Watford offloaded him.

Those troubled times could well stick in the mind of Premier League observers but, as a United fan his entire life, Ighalo will be determined to deliver as his dream comes true.