Odion Ighalo has revealed legendary Manchester United strike pairing Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole were among his idols growing up - and he used to copy their game.
“Well, I had a lot of football heroes," said the striker.
"When I started supporting Man United, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole were my heroes growing up.
"And some Nigerian players as well like Jay-Jay Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu. They are great players, they were my heroes growing up and I watched them on TV.
"It is a great privilege for me to play at Man United, where great players like Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole have played.”
Ighalo then explained how he modelled his own game on Yorke and Cole, who proved a prolific partnership for Sir Alex Ferguson for a number of seasons. The 30-year-old is a similar striker in how he poaches goals, which is why former Yorke and Cole teammate Solskjaer wanted to bring Ighalo to his United side.
“Yeah, I would say that as a striker I watched Andy Cole a lot and Dwight Yorke," Ighalo added.
"They were great strikers and scored a lot of goals.
"So I would watch their movements, the way they played, the way they created space for themselves, watching the way they met crosses behind defenders. I learned all of that and it has helped me a lot in my football career.”