The crisis of the coronavirus is arguably the number one news story in the world right now, as fears of a possible pandemic are on the rise. While there have been a few cases reported worldwide, the virus is mostly concentrated in China right now and this has led to precautionary actions involving those who have traveled to mainland China in the past two weeks.
Odion Ighalo made a loan move to Manchester United on January transfer window deadline day, leaving Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua. Due to the potential for increasing restrictions on those who have been in China the past fortnight, the striker will not be joining up with his new team on their warm weather training trip to Malaga, Spain.
This is not due to any fears that Ighalo may have contracted the coronavirus, but only as a means of being ultra conservative. The club referred to this decision as “a precautionary measure as the situation continues to be monitored.”
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskajer provided an update on the 31-year-old Nigerian via MUTV.
“Odion will stay in Manchester, because he arrived from China in the last 14 days,” the Norwegian said.
“Because of the situation in China, we’re not sure if he’d be allowed back into England if he leaves the country again, so he’s staying here working with a personal coach, individual programme and his family then can settle in England as well. Of course he might have liked to have come with the players and got to know them, but the risk [of potential border restrictions tightening], we don’t want to take that.”
A portion of Ighalo’s training in Manchester will encompass working with Olympians.
As for the squad traveling to Spain, it is 20 strong, but is missing a substantial amount of first team and key players. In addition to Ighalo, injured stars Paul Pogba (who is training in Dubai, go here for an update on him) and Marcus Rashford did not make the trip, neither did back-up goalkeeper Lee Grant, who is undergoing surgery.
David de Gea, Bruno Fernandes, Victor Lindelof, Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata were all absent as well. However, injured players Scott McTominay and Axel Tuanzebe are taking part.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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