What happens when the media miss out on a story, find out 12 days late, and then report it anyway?

We found out the answer last night as outlets sensationally reported Odion Ighalo has been ‘banned’ from Manchester United’s Carrington training ground over coronavirus fears.

This line was parroted by The Mirror, The Express, ESPN among others. It was an attempt to really make United look silly and drum up negativity towards the club and player.

But there’s no new information, only the presentation of the facts we already know.

(Photo by Pawel Andrachiewicz/PressFocus/MB Media/Getty Images)

Ighalo arrived in the UK under quarantine for 14 days as do all travellers entering the country from China. This meant he could not go on the training trip to Spain.

His fortnight in quarantine ends on Friday, and he is free to link up with his United teammates on Saturday.

United were obviously right to take no chances with the health of their existing players, themselves multi-million pound assets.

 

Ighalo could feature vs Chelsea

The strikeris set to be involved with the squad and will travel to face Chelsea, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quoted by The Times: “He is going to travel with us. We will just see his fitness work this week and we will get him sharp. We want to integrate him as quickly as we can because, of course, he is desperate to play for us.”

Ighalo has been training in a gym over the past fortnight, as The Telegraph reported last Friday, with Olympic athletes.

So in summary, Ighalo links up with the United first team in two days time, and could make his debut on Monday.

Today’s edition of The Times also runs the same headlines but clarifies there is no suggestion Ighalo has the virus, and he was happy taking the extra precaution. It also notes he is ‘near peak fitness’. Let’s focus on that.

The ‘new’ reports are just an attempt to stir up controversy and create negativity. It would have been a better story had the media learned he’d been asked to stay away from Carrington on February 1.

At this point its pretty irrelevant, Ighalo is nearly ready.

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