Former Watford striker Odion Ighalo has claimed that he would have preferred to stay in the Premier League rather than move to China.
The forward moved to Chinese Super League club Changchun Yatai late on in the January window, but says if he’d had his choice he would have loved to stay in England.
English clubs couldn't pay what Watford wanted
The Nigerian striker said that both West Brom and Crystal Palace had shown strong interest in him. He also claims that those moves fell through because "Watford made it impossible as their fee demands were too high. Only China could afford to pay what Watford wanted”.
Ighalo conceded that the move to Asia was good for him in terms of the money he was offered, but he insists that it is not all about the money.
"I have my family here, the kids are in school here, getting that stability is never easy when you keep moving your family. But what can we do? Life goes on."
Ighalo initially moved to Hertfordshire on loan from Italian Serie A side Udinese in 2014 before signing for the Hornets permanently shortly afterwards. Incidentally Udinese are also owned by the Pozzo family who have a controlling majority stake in Watford.
A Brilliant strike partnership was formed
He went on to form a brilliant strike partnership with club captain Troy Deeney, and Watford gained promotion by finishing 2nd in the Championship under Slavisa Jokanovic in 2015. Under Quique Sanchez Flores Ighalo scored 15 goals as the Hornets achieved a comfortable mid table finish as well as a run to the FA Cup semi final
Under Walter Mazzarri this term however, Ighalo has looked a shadow of his former self scoring just twice in a handful of league appearances. Overall, the Nigerian netted 39 times in 100 games for Watford over a two-and-a-half-year period.
Mazzarri looks to the future
Mazzarri will be hoping that the rest of his current squad can fill the hole left by Ighalo’s departure. He will be looking to new forwards M’baye Niang and Mauro Zarate to continue Watford’s recent run of good form when they travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Saturday.