Leicester City star Kelechi Iheanacho was harshly criticized by Gernot Rohr in March following his snub for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Seychelles and international friendly with Egypt.

Rohr had questioned Iheanacho's professionalism and commitment to the national team cause, but the German is thinking differently now, saying the striker has turned over a new leaf and is working hard to be included on the final roster for the AFCON.

In truth, the attacker's performance has dropped since his move to Leicester City and he managed only two goals from 35 games in all competitions over the course of last season.

''Kelechi Iheanacho changed, he's now much more quiet. He's working seriously but he's lacking confidence because he didn't play so much,'' Rohr said at Thursday's press conference attended by allnigeriasoccer.com.

''I went with my assistant Tunde to a game Leicester against Chelsea, I wanted to see him, he didn't even come in.

''I see that he's not happy but we want to make him happy, but we cannot give the players gifts, there's competition.

''We have a lot of wingers, we also have good center forwards now, we have three, so really we are lucky to have all these good players because the other countries are searching for strikers.''

Iheanacho has gone ten games without scoring a goal for the Super Eagles, his last coming in the 4-2 win over Argentina in a pre-World Cup friendly in November 2017.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel