​Manchester United have completed a loan move for Chinese Super League striker Odion Ighalo – with the player joining until the end of the current season.

The Nigeria international left Watford in 2017 for Changchun Yatai in 2017 before joining Shanghai Shenhua, with whom he won the Chinese FA Cup this year.

United have been on the hunt for a striker to help deal with their current injury crisis, with Marcus Rashford ruled out for the foreseeable future with a back problem, and the club confirmed the deal at one minute past midnight – 61 minutes past the deadline.

Names like Islam Slimani, Josh King, Salomon Rondon and Edinson Cavani were all banded around as potential targets, before it was reported on Friday evening that personal terms and a salary had been agreed.

​United will not have an automatic option to buy Ighalo at the end of his loan spell, should the 30-year-old impress at Old Trafford.

The former Udinese forward impressed at Vicarage Road during the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons, scoring 35 league goals across the two campaigns.

He would struggle in 2016/17, however, eventually sealing a move to Changchun Yatai, scoring a hatful before switching the Jilin Province for Shanghai.

He will provide added striking options for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has utilised ​Anthony Martial up front for the most of the season with ​Rashford covering when the Frenchman was struck down with injury.

A Lionel Messi brace helped Barcelona breeze into the Copa del Rey quarter finals as they romped to a 5-0 victory over Leganes on Thursday evening.

The hosts got off to a perfect start with Antoine Griezmann sweeping in Nelson Semedo’s cut back with just three minutes on the clock. Griezmann was denied a second by VAR soon after before Clément Lenglet doubled Barça’s advantage in the 27th minute with a flicked header.

Leganes offered little in the way of a response and their chances of progressing were dealt a hammer blow when Messi’s shot was deflected into the back of the net to make it 3-0.

Barca added a fourth in the 77th minute when Arthur Melo smashed in the rebound after Messi shot straight at Iván Cuéllar. The rout was then completed when La Pulga rounded the goalkeeper before calmly slotting home with minutes left to play.

Here’s 90min’s breakdown of the game…

BARCELONA

Key Talking Point

Quique Setien ​has supposedly been hired to bring the ‘Barcelona way’ back to Camp Nou and if this is his only remit, Thursday night was an unequivocal success.

In scenes reminiscent of the club’s tika-taka heyday, the hosts completely dominated the game from start to finish. Barca often had ten players camped out in the Leganes half, retaining the ball with ease and strangling the life out of the game.

Overall, the hosts enjoyed around 73% possession. Perhaps, Barcelona are back to their dominant best, or perhaps we should not get carried away. Probably the latter to be honest.

Player Ratings

Starting XI: Ter Stegen (7); Semedo (8), Pique (7), Lenglet (8); Fati (8), Busquets (8), De Jong (7), Vidal (8), Alba (8); Messi (7), Griezmann (8*).

Substitutes: Rakitic (7), Firpo (7), Melo (8).

Antoine Griezmann

​There’s been a lot of talk about Barcelona looking to replace Luis Suarez before the transfer window closes on Friday, with Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Rodrigo both being linked with a move to Camp Nou.

However, on the evidence of Griezmann’s performance on Thursday evening, Setien can rest easy on the striking front.

Yes, the Frenchman grabbed an early goal, but more importantly he led the line spectacularly by dropping into midfield to link the play and pressed when required.

LEGANES

Player Ratings

Starting XI: Cuéllar (4); Tarin (5), Awaziem (4), Siovas (4); Rosales (5), Mesa (5), Pérez (4), Silva (5), Ruibal (5), Braithwaite (4), Arnaiz (4).

Substitutes: Rodrigues (4), Eraso (5), Gordillo (5).

Looking Ahead

Next up, ​​Barcelona take on Levante on Sunday as they look to close the gap on La Liga leaders Real Madrid.

Leganes host high-flying Real Sociedad, hoping they can secure a victory that could propel them out of the relegation places.