Odion Jude Ighalo joins Changchun Yatai for £20m

Odion Jude Ighalo, Nigerian striker has left Watford, a Premier League side to Chinese Super League outfit Changchun Yatai for £20m.

The Transfer deadline day deal brings an end to weeks of speculation over the future of the former Granada striker who was getting increasingly frustrated at Vicarage Road, BBC writes.

27 year old Ighalo joined the Hornets in 2014 from Italian side Udinese and he scored 20 goals as they won promotion to the Premier League in the 2014-15 campaign.

Ighalo continued his fine form in their maiden season in the top-flight, finding the net on 17 occasions as Quique Sanchez Flores’s side comfortably avoided relegation.

Ighalo has largely struggled this season as under Italian manager Walter Mazzarri he has failed to hit the same heights, scoring just the one Premier League goal this season. In addition, he has gone 15 games without scoring in all competitions as the Hornets stare at the drop.

He was reportedly keen on a stay in the Premier League, but was forced to follow the money to China after Watford signed two attacking players – AC Milan striker M’Baye Niang, 22, on loan until the end of the season and Argentine forward Mauro Zarate, 29, on a permanent deal from Fiorentina.

Ighalo, who began his career with the Nigerian youth teams, played 100 times in all competitions for Watford and scored 39 goals, including 30 goals in 38 games in 2015.

The former Granada striker joins John Obi Mikel in the money-spinning Chinese League, after the Eagles skipper earlier left Chelsea for Tianjin TEDA.