Manager Backs Iheanacho to Start Scoring For Leicester. …Says Player Aims to Be Africa’s Best.
By Bunmi Blair.
Bought for £25m, yet
to score or provide an assist in four English Premier League, EPL games.
The pressure is already mounting on Nigerian born
Leicester City's forward Kelechi Iheanacho to start delivering for the club he joined this summer.
A breakdown of matches he has played so far this season shows that he has been used as a substitute
in three of his four EPL appearances and played just 105 minutes of a possible 540
minutes in Leicester City’s first six games of the season.
KELECHI IHEANACHO |
He rose to prominence
as an offensive midfielder, in his days with Nigeria's national youth teams. Scored
six goals and provided seven assists, which earned him the MVP award at the
2013 FIFA U-17 world cup. Kelechi has since been converted into an out-and-out
striker by both club and country.
At a point in his
first full season with Manchester City in 2016, Kelechi scored every 96
minutes, a statistic that showed he had the best goals-to-minutes ratio of any
player in the EPL history.
KELECHI IHEANACHO |
His manager and close
friend, Kingsley Ogbodo says Kelechi's desire to get more playing time necessitated his move to Leicester City. He added that it's just a matter of time before the former Nigeria U-15 team player starts scoring for his new
club.
"Leicester City know
they've got a goal machine.
“The injury he scooped
in the pre-season friendly game against Borussia Monchengladbach slowed him
down.
"But you can see
in the few matches that he has played so far this season that he is getting
sharper with each game.
"It's just a
matter of time before he starts scoring," Ogbodo said in a chat with
bunmiblair.blogspot.com.ng.
KELECHI AND HIS AGENT OGBODO |
For Nigeria's senior
national team, the Super Eagles, the 20-year-old striker has also made a
statement. His seven goals in eleven appearances for the three-time African champion has made him a preferred choice upfront, even at the expense of more
experienced strikers like Odion Ighalo, Ahmed Musa, Obafemi Martins and Brown
Ideye.
Ogbodo further added
that, Kelechi's target is to one day be ranked among the best strikers ever to
come out of the continent of Africa.
"He is aiming and
working to be a great striker in the history of Africa. He wants to be better
than Samuel Eto, Kanu Nwankwo or even Didier Drogba.
"Always he says to
me, I still want to learn more, improve my game and be a great player in
future, Ogbodo said.
KELECHI AND HIS FORMER U-20 TEAMMATE CHIDERA |
Kelechi is one of the
23 players, Super Eagles Coach, Gernot Rohr, has called up for next week's
important 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying game, against the Chipolopolo of
Zambia.
A win for Nigeria in
the game billed for the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo, Nigeria, on 7th October,
2017, will guarantee them a place in next year's Russia 2018 world cup.
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