Man U move: Ighalo escapes compulsory military training
Nigeria international and Manchester United loanee, Odion Ighalo ,has been spared compulsory military training following his loan move to old Trafford early this year.
Chinese authorities battling to contain the ravaging coronavirus have ordered compulsory Spring Military training for all footballers in the country insisting that footballers must train at least 16 hours a week to remain trim and fight the scourge.
Officials in a statement said “Chinese football clubs and national teams must undertake “spring military training” to defeat the coronavirus and help fulfill President Xi Jinping’s dream of making the country a force in the sport”
Matches in China are indefinitely suspended over the outbreak but the football association has issued detailed orders, telling clubs how long players must train each week, what exercises they must do and even how slim they must be.
The strict instructions, the latest in a series handed down by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) in recent years, are likely to be met with surprise by coaches such as Rafael Benitez and Fabio Cannavaro with a background in European football.
Interestingly Cannavaro, at Chinese Super League (CSL) champions Guangzhou Evergrande, and Benitez at Dalian Pro are among the coaches who will be held directly responsible for incorporating the training regime into their pre-season programmes.
The order was made on Friday, and clubs had until Tuesday (today) to tell the CFA how they would adhere to it. They will also face random inspections to make sure they’re following the instructions.
The results of the surprise checks will be made public and clubs will be ranked to shame underachievers into action.
As if that was not enough the order went into details saying “teams must train for at least 16 hours a week and meet targets in tests that include squats, bench presses and vertical jumps. All players must have a body fat percentage of less than 11%”
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Ighalo who first played for Changchun Yatai on joining the Chinese Super League in 2017, scored 36 goals for the side in 55 appearances before moving over to Shanghai Greenland Shenhua.
He moved on loan to Man United late January till the end of the season has since scored three goals for the club including a brace in 3-0 defeat of Derby County in the FA cup.
Manchester United face Austrian side LASK in and Europa league clash on Thursday