Ighalo joins Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab, gets symbolic jersey number

NIGERIA striker Odion Ighalo has joined Saudi Arabian top flight club Al Shabab on a permanent deal from Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua.

Al Shabab confirmed the signing on Thursday evening via social media.

“Al Shabab has signed the Nigerian Odion Ighalo @ighalojude (Ex. Man United striker) for two and a half years,” the club tweeted on their English language account.

He made the switch on a free transfer.

The club also announced Ighalo’s arrival on the Arabic language account with a short video in which his special squad number was revealed.

Ighalo, who said “let’s make history” in the one-minute video, will wear the No.89 jersey, which symbolises the year he was born: 1989.

Ighalo, 31, left Manchester United at the end of January after a one-year loan spell at the club he supported as a child growing up in Lagos.

The retired Super Eagles striker has played professionally in Norway, Italy, Spain, England and China, and his taking his career to the oil-rich Middle East for the first time.