It’s fair to say some Manchester City fans were a little downbeat to see Kelechi Iheanacho leave the club back in 2017, but most did understand the decision.
Leicester City reportedly paid £25 million for the striker (BBC Sport), which was a very good fee for a player who was not a regular at the Etihad Stadium.
It’s taken him some time, but Iheanacho is now flourishing at the King Power Stadium.
Out of nowhere, the Nigeria international – whom Pep Guardiola recently branded ‘incredible’ (MEN) – is up to 10 goals in the Premier League for the season and 17 in all competitions.
He’s struck up a wonderful partnership with Jamie Vardy, and his finishing seems to have reached another level.
Some City supporters have been watching on wondering about the buy-back clause that was negotiated at the time of his sale, but the Daily Mail have reported today that that expired last year.
So he won’t be coming back to Manchester, meaning Gabriel Jesus – the man signed to effectively replace Iheanacho – will need to show fans need not think about their former star.
Jesus should use Iheanacho rise as fuel
In the eyes of a lot of City fans, Jesus still doesn’t entirely convince.
He is a great player, but is not the most clinical finisher and still wanders offside far too much.
That said, his link-up play and work-rate are absolutely superb.
He may be acutely aware of how brilliant Iheanacho is performing at the moment.
Hopefully he will respond to that in the right way, and try to out-do the 24-year-old every opportunity he gets – he surely doesn’t want a dialogue starting about whether the club acted too hastily.
