Speculation is rising high that Changchun Yatai of China striker, Odion Jude Ighalo could be on his way back to playing in central Europe, following the relegation of his club from the Chinese Super League.
Although Ighalo got his biggest haul of goals in a single season in the past campaign with Yatai, his efforts could not save the side from taking the drop, but footballllive.ng has learnt that he already has offers for a deal in Europe.
It is now left to be seen if the Super Eagles hitman will opt to stay in China with another club or accept an offer in Europe, where he has previously played for Lyn Oslo of Norway, Udinese of Italy, Granada of Spain and Watford of England.
Dramatically, despite Yataia’s relegation, Ighalo’s search for a new club received another boost when he was rated the best African striker in the Chinese Super League fort he past season.
It is all individual glory for the former Flying Eagles captain, who is out of Nigeria’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier away to South Africa this Saturday due to injury.
His latest individual accolade sees Ighalo voted Africa’s best striker on the goals cards, despite finishing second on the overall scorers’ chart.
The 29-year-old Ighalo scored 21 goals in 28 CSL games to make him Africa’s most lethal striker ahead of the fiery trio of Cedric Bukambu, Frank Acheampong and Benjamin Mukandjo.
En route to getting the nod, Ighalo was Changchun Yatai’s record all-time goals scorer and the first African to net four goals in a CSL match when he hit four in a 5-2 bashing of Guizhou Hengfeng.
Ighalo, though, lost out to Lei Wu in the race for the CSL’s golden boot for the most prolific scorer, which went to the Shanghai SIPG attacker, who hit 27 goals, whilst Eran Zhazi placed third with 20 goals.
