Kelechi Iheanacho was one of the stand out stars of the Premier League last season. His 12 goals in 25 games nearly secured that all-important Champions League finish for Leicester City and he revealed himself to be a ruthless striker.
Plus with many of the sportsbooks on playersbest,com giving the Foxes short odds to finally get a top four finish, it could be another excellent season for Iheanacho.
Iheanacho’s path to glory
Many people in the footballing world were surprised when Leicester City splashed out a cool £25 million for Iheanacho back in 2017.
While the youngster showed some strong form at Manchester City, the transfer fee was thought to be fairly excessive. Iheanacho had arrived at Manchester City after a series of impressive performances for the Nigerian under-17 team, and it was a rapid rise for the young star who’d only previously played for Taye Academy in Owerri.
The first three years at Leicester City proved to be a frustrating time as he sought to battle his way into the starting eleven.
Much of this was down to the fact that Iheanacho was effectively acting as an understudy to Jamie Vardy. With Vardy continuing to show his goalscoring genius and rapid pace, there was little that Iheanacho could do but watch from the sidelines.
The situation continued through the start of the 2020/21 campaign, but Iheanacho finally got to show his brilliance later in the year.
After the strangely predictable winter injury crisis, Iheanacho was called up to the first team and bagged an impressive 12 goals in 10 games.
This included a stunning hat-trick in Leicester’s 5-0 demolition of Sheffield United, and Iheanacho grabbed two more against Manchester United, as well as the deciding goal in the epic FA Cup semi-final victory over Southampton.
It was this kind of form that saw Iheanacho deservedly given the Premier League Player of the Month award in March, and the 25-year old was rewarded with a three-year contract at Leicester.
The contract will keep Iheanacho with the Foxes until 2024 which should be enough time for the team to cement their place among the so-called ‘big six’.
What next for Iheanacho?
There is little doubt that the 2021/22 Premier League season will be the most important campaign of Iheanacho’s career.
At 34-years of age, Jamie Vardy shouldn’t be expected to carry all of the weight of Leicester’s attack, although he still retains much of his blistering pace.
As such, the centre forward position could be Iheanacho’s for the taking. However, with the striker missing a penalty in a surprise pre-season defeat against Burton Albion, it’s clear that things don’t always go according to plan.
Plus it looks like Iheanacho could have some more competition in the Leicester attack. This is because the Foxes recently brought in Patson Daka who has already been making a name for himself as ‘the next big thing in African football’.
The Zambia striker was in incredible form at RB Salzburg and it was only a matter of time before he took a step up from the Austrian Bundesliga.
Leicester splashed out £23 million on securing Daka’s services ahead of interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid, and such a transfer fee won’t have been made for the striker just to keep the bench warm.
However, it’s also worth noting that Iheanacho can often work best when playing alongside another striker rather than just going it alone.
His interplay with Vardy worked with devastating effect, and it’s easy to see how the same could happen with Daka.
Plus with some incredible support further back from the likes of James Maddison and Youri Tielemans, it could be a massive year for Leicester.
Plus an in-form Iheanacho will obviously mean good things for Nigeria who will shortly begin their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Ifeanyi Emmanuel
Photo Credit : lcfc.com
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