Odion Ighalo has revealed that he took a pay cut to make ‘dream’ Manchester United move a reality.

The former Nigeria international, who hung up his international boots following the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, joined the Red Devils on-loan for the remainder of the 2019/20 season on transfer deadline day.

Ighalo revealed that he couldn’t sleep in waiting for Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua to accept the offer from Old Trafford.

The 30-year-old is no stranger to the English Premier League having scored 17 goals in 55 league appearances in his time at Watford.

“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,” Ighalo told MUTV as reported by The Guardian.

“‘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.

“From 11pm there was paperwork, negotiating and all that, for the loan deal, 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,” Ighalo conclued.

The Red Devils currently occupy seventh place in the English Premier League, 38 points behind leaders and fierce rivals Liverpool.