After scoring again against Bournemouth in the 4-0 victory, Kelechi Iheanacho now boasts an impressive record in the Premier League of 10 goals from just 14 shots on target. The 19 year-old Nigerian has thrived in the absence of Sergio Aguero, picking up 3 goals and 3 assists already this season. Here is a look at Kelechi’s Manchester City career so far.
Manchester City fans first look at Iheanacho was two years ago during the pre-season tour of the United States, before the 2014/15 season. Kelechi was just 17 years old at the time and yet was hugely impressive, he managed to get on the score sheet against both Sporting KC and AC Milan. Many City fans were eager to see what role Iheanacho would play in the coming season but problems securing a work permit led to Kelechi training with MLS side Columbus Crew.
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After eventually obtaining a work permit in February 2015, Iheanacho picked up an injury just 11 minutes into his debut for Manchester City’s EDS side. He eventually returned towards the end of the season and showed his quality for the EDS with a few goals, including two in the Under-21 Manchester derby.
The 2015/16 season is where Iheanacho made his breakthrough into the first-team, showing just why he was named Most Promising Talent of the Year for 2013 at the CAF awards. It was not known what role Iheanacho would play at the start of the season as he was still just 18 years old, but his performances in pre-season (2 goals and 2 assists), gave City fans reason for optimism.
The failures of Wilfried Bony at Manchester City have been well-documented but they came with a silver lining, Iheanacho was given a chance. It was Bony that Iheanacho would replace when he came on at Crystal Palace and scored a stoppage time winner for his first competitive goal.
Iheanacho continued to impress throughout the season, eventually ending with 8 goals in the Premier League along with a hat-trick in the FA Cup. This was all despite just playing 753 minutes in the league even though Kelechi broke into the first team during September. To put that into perspective, cross-town rival Marcus Rashford played 862 minutes even though he debuted for the Manchester United first team towards the end of February.
Many will argue that this shows the Manchester City manager at the time, Manuel Pellegrini, didn’t show enough faith with the youngster who managed to score a goal every 94 minutes in the Premier League. However, this allowed Iheanacho to go slightly under the radar and play with less pressure on him, something which is very important for young players. There is no way to know what would have happened if Pellegrini opted to give Iheanacho more minutes but what we do know is that blooding him into the first-team slowly over the course of a season has clearly helped his development.
After last seasons exploits, Kelechi Iheanacho moved ahead of Wilfried Bony in the pecking order and Manchester City showed significant confidence in Kelechi by loaning Bony to Stoke City. Iheanacho has already repaid that faith, in just 160 minutes of football Premier League football Kelechi has scored twice and racked up 3 assists. A 7 minute cameo against Borussia Mönchengladbach also saw Kelechi’s first ever goal in the Champions League.
Perhaps the best thing for Iheanacho is that two of his best attributes, pace and positioning in the box, are attributes that are typically natural and difficult to improve upon. The weaker parts of Kelechi’s game can be improved through training, especially under the watchful eyes of Pep Guardiola.
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Even though Aguero will be back from his 3 game suspension after the mid-week EFL Cup game at Swansea, Iheanacho will not find chances hard to come by. Aguero has a history of never staying fit for a whole season and Guardiola’s heavy rotation will see plenty of starts and appearances off the bench for the 19 year old.
The future holds a lot of promise for Kelechi Iheanacho.