Pozzos deserve credit for Watford FC transfer involving Udinese: View | OneFootball

The Watford-Udinese pathway has become an often-treaded route for many players in recent years, with the Pozzo family owning both clubs and utilising that to their advantage.

With father Giampaolo in charge of the Serie A side, and son Gino pulling the strings at Vicarage Road, there have been plenty of deals that have gone on between the two clubs since the acquiring the Hertfordshire side in 2012.

Some have fared better than others in their time in England, but one of the standout stars that made their mark in their time at the Hornets is Odion Ighalo, with the Nigerian proving to be a standout performer during his time at the club.

Some of his 36 goals in his 90 league appearances proved to be crucial in getting the club promoted back to the Premier League in the 14/15 season, with his goalscoring exploits earning him plenty of admirers in the Sir Elton John stand and beyond.

Odion Ighalo early career: Udinese, Granada, Watford

The triumvirate of Udinese, Granada and Watford proved to be something of a Bermuda Triangle for many a football player around the start of the previous decade, with the Pozzo family owning all three clubs in three separate countries.

That meant many a potential superstar plied their trade for two, if not all three of the clubs in question, with Ighalo no different in the fact he went on loan to the Spanish side from Italy to gain some valuable minutes as a young player.

After helping the club earn promotion to La Liga, the Nigerian netted five times in Spain’s top flight the next campaign as his loan spells continued at the club until the end of the summer of 2014.

That was where Watford come into the scenario, as the Hornets made the move for the striker when his contract with the Italian club came to an end, as he made the move to his third separate Pozzo-owned club who were in the Championship at the time.

It took Ighalo some time to find his stride at Vicarage Road, but once he did the forward was a revelation with the Hornets; three goals in three games against Brentford, Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest announced his arrival, before he really caught fire after Christmas.

It seemed an inevitability that the striker would get on the scoresheet during the second-half of the season, with a spell of 17 goals in 14 matches a remarkable return from a player that hadn’t hit double figures in a season before.

Braces against Charlton Athletic, Brentford and Rotherham United were superseded by a four-goal haul in a 7-2 victory over Blackpool in January, as he went on to net 20 goals in his first season on English soil.

Even making the step up to the Premier League seemed no problem for the clinical marksman, with a goal on his top flight debut against Everton followed up with 16 more in all competitions throughout the course of the campaign.

A memorable double in a 3-0 win against Liverpool came in December as he terrorised the Reds’ backline alongside Troy Deeney, and further cemented his status as one of the best strikers in the land.

Odion Ighalo West Brom transfer interest, reported salary

It was no surprise to hear rumours of clubs interested in striking a deal for the Nigerian international after such a strong showing, with West Brom one of the clubs said to be circling with a £20 million bid, before he made the move to China to join Changchun Yatai.

The forward was said to be earning £190,000 a week for his services in the Chinese Super League, and hit double figures in each of his three seasons in Asia, with the latter played with Shanghai Shenhua where he found the net ten times.

Having seemingly fallen of the radar of English clubs after his three-year spell out of the country, it would have been a shock for football fans to see the striker return to the Premier League with Manchester United in 2020, as he made the temporary switch to Old Trafford for 12 months in the January.

Fleeting appearances in the Premier League and cup competitions saw him net five times for the Red Devils, before making the move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Shabab in the February of 2021.

Two more Saudi clubs have utilised the striker since; with a Saudi Pro League title coming with Al-Hilal in 2022 before moving to Al-Wehda for the current campaign, and ranks highly among the top scorers of all time in the division.

In a career that spans over five countries; Ighalo is the embodiment of a footballing nomad, but found a real home at Vicarage Road to kickstart his career.

He will always be remembered for that dazzling 18-month spell where he was almost unplayable, and gave Hornets fans plenty of happy memories along the way.

The way his footballing journey is going you can never bet against another return to the English game in a year or two anyway, and he would be welcomed with open arms at Vicarage Road if ever he was tempted.