Coronavirus sees Manchester United change hotel as Odion Ighalo trains alone
- Nigeria striker is kept away from club’s Carrington training base as a precaution after arriving on loan from Shanghai Shenhua
- Concerns reportedly force team to switch hotels on Spain winter break from one used by Rafa Benitez’s Dalian Yifang
Manchester United’s new signing Odion Ighalo has not trained at the club’s Carrington training base over fears of the coronavirus, just one of the ways the outbreak has affected their plans.
The Nigeria striker arrived in Manchester on February 2 after joining the English Premier League club from Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua on the final day of the transfer window.
Ighalo has been kept away from the club as a precaution and has instead been training at the home of the British Taekwondo Federation in the city, working with coach Wayne Richardson.
The new arrival sat out the club’s trip to Spain, with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer citing concerns over tightening travel restrictions.
“Odion will stay in Manchester, because he arrived from China in the last 14 days,” Solskjaer told club channel MUTV ahead of the trip to Marbella.
“Because of the situation in China, we’re not sure if he’d be allowed back into England if he leaves the country again. He’s staying here working with a personal coach on an individual programme, and his family then can settle in England as well. That’s a plus. Of course, he might have liked to have come with the players and get to know them, but with the risk [of border restrictions tightening], we don’t want to take that.”