Odion Ighalo has revealed the bizarre reason why he picked the No.25 shirt at Manchester United following his deadline day transfer.
Ighalo joined United from Shanghai Shenhua on loan until the end of the season in a shock January move.
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The Nigerian striker was officially unveiled as the club's new No.25 on Tuesday and he's explained the reason behind the number.
He referred to former United star Quinton Fortune, who wore the No.25 shirt during his spell at the club, while giving his own complicated take.
"No 19 was available. When I was at Watford, I put on 24, 24 is not available," he told MUTV. "In Shanghai No 9, it's not available so I said 24 + 1 is 25, so I said OK let me go for 25 instead of 19.
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"I watched Quinton Fortune play for Man Utd, he's a great player, and I know he put on 25. So I said 25 is good even though I didn't get the number I was looking for. Twenty-five is a perfect number. One above what I wore before when I was in the Premier League."
Needless to say, Ighalo's reasoning behind his decision got United fans talking.
"I think what he's trying to say is 25 is closer to 24 than 19. God I hope he doesn't make scoring goals as complicated as this," one social media user wrote.
A second tweeted: "What a weird way to choose a number."
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A third added: "Now I need to go lay down, head hurts."
United, meanwhile, fended off fierce competition from Tottenham and Inter Milan to snap up Ighalo on a short-term deal. But the 30-year-old only had eyes for the Old Trafford club once they expressed an interest.
"A few other clubs had shown interest," he added. "I said 'please, just pick United, if it's going to be possible'.
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"At 11pm in Shanghai, my agent called me [to say] that United want to do the deal, so I woke up that night and started looking for a translator to go to the directors' room and hit his door and all that. 'My agent wants to speak to you, United are coming for me, you have to make this happen' and all that you know.
"So, they started talking and discussing. I didn't sleep throughout that night, because it was going to end at 7am, Shanghai time, and the transfer (window) is going to close there.
"So, from 11pm, there was paperwork, negotiating and all that, for the loan deal and all that, so we are talking and other teams are calling them, wanting me, but I told my agent that this is what I want. I want to come here.
"He said you're going to get a pay cut to go to United. I said I don't care. Make this deal happen. I want to go to United. I don't care how much is the pay cut, I know that, make it happen."
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How many goals will Ighalo score at United? Let us know what you think.
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