After a turbulent period in both club and country’s colours, Kelechi Iheanacho seemed to have pulled his chestnut from the fire with five-star performances for Leicester City in the English Premier League. Sport Editor MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN here recounts the past travails and future prospects of the former FIFA U-17 Golden Ball award winner.
What indeed is in a name as far as Nigeria striker Kelechi Iheanacho is concerned after he sprang from nowhere to be among the goals for Leicester City in the English Premier League against Everton and Aston Villa (EPL)?
In his Igbo dialect, Kelechi means ‘thank God’ while Iheanacho, his family name, means ‘what we are looking (or wishing for)’ and the former ‘teen scoring terror’ has now scored and assisted twice over his last two Premier League outings for the Foxes, which included a last-minute winner against Everton a week ago.
Iheanacho, indeed, has everything to be thankful for after regaining his scoring form with the Foxes. The victory against Everton at the King Power Stadium, for instance, was not only about Leicester’s revamped ambition to be crowned England champions again after they broke the duck in 2016 but it was a rear moment of triumph for the23-year-old Nigerian who scored his first EPL goal after 14-month period of interregnum.
“It was a great moment, my first game of the season and first goal, so I’m really buzzing – I’m happy today,” Iheanacho told LCFC TV. “It all came from the hard work in training, I’ve been working hard and keeping my head up and waiting for the opportunity to come. I’m happy it came, and I took it.”
But the joy of the evening was equally well captured by Leicester City’s coach Brendan Rogers who brought on Iheanacho as a second half substitute for Ayoze Perez. “He was absolutely brilliant. He was absolutely outstanding. He gave us strength, he gave us power, good running in behind and then he creates and scores a goal. We are all delighted for him. He’s such a good boy who gives his all but doesn’t play so much,” Rogers noted.
As a matter of fact, Iheanacho had long been regarded as one of the ‘outrageously talented players’ of his generation after he scored some of the goals that helped Nigeria to claim the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup title in the UAE and was personally handed the Golden Ball award as the most outstanding player of the tournament.
Since 2013, no Nigerian youngster has bettered Iheanacho’s scoring record at the youth level and he’s head and shoulder above the likes of Victor Osimhen and Success Isaac with number of goals scored for the national Under-17 team for instance.
In a cumulative comparison, Iheanacho had 35 goals in 49 matches (71%) while both Isaac and Osimhen had 51 goals in 79 matches (64%) and 33 goals in 79 matches (67%) respectively during their days with the Golden Eaglets.
After his heroics at the global cadet championship in the UAE, Iheanacho was persuaded by close folks to sign the big money deal with Manchester City on his 18th anniversary in 2014 rather than go to a modest side like Sporting Clube de Portugal a club widely known as a breeding grounds for great players in the shape of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo.
After horning his skills with the Manchester City’s Academy where he notched goals like telephone, Iheanacho was drafted into the first team for the 2015/2016 then under the guidance of Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini to kick start his adventure in the EPL with an impressive statistics.
He finished the first season with eight EPL goals and had the best goals-per-minute ratio of any player averaging, a goal every 93.9 minutes. In all competitions he finished with a record of 14 goals and 5 assists from 35 appearances despite being on the starting line-up in only 11 of these games. His goals total also meant he ended the season as City’s third-highest scorer behind well-established starts like Sergei Aguero (29) and Kevin De Bruyne (16).
But the thought that Iheanacho was going to blossom under the revered former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola who took over from Pellegrini at the start of the 2016/2017 season soon vanished as he was sparingly used throughout the period.
But he did get some plaudits for some great performances that season including scoring the winning goal in the sacred Manchester derby (against Manchester United) and ended with just four EPL goals in 20 appearances before taking a bow from Maine Road.
Many faulted Iheanacho’s choice of Manchester City from the outset of his professional football career, a fact widely disputed by foremost youth coach Manu Garba under whose guidance the lad played some of the best football of his fledging career with the Golden Eaglets class of 2013.
“Kelechi Iheanacho is one of the best clinical finishers among his age bracket and one of the best I have seen in the last ten years,” Garba, a two-time winner of the FIFA U-17 World Cup title in 2007 and 2013 said in an interview with The Nation. “He has the ability to convert half chances and a good shooter of the ball and his interest would not have been better served than anywhere than Manchester City.”
Could Iheanacho have been a victim of his own success after the big money move to Manchester City than to a lesser league in Europe where he would have gone through steady crucible of fire to become a refined gold?
Many would argue that Iheanacho is as talented as 2018 World Cup winner Kylian Mbape but the French youngster reportedly rejected a move to Real Madrid from Monaco saying the Spanish side would pay even more for his service in the future if he maintains great form at PSG.
Today, Mbape has since become one of the best players in the world, finishing in the list of top ten players for the 2019 Ballon d’Or award for the best player in the world.
“I think most young African players are easily carried away with fame and money, forgetting that it was by doing something great that they got the break out of poverty through football,” explained Emmanuel Amuneke, the 1994 African Footballer of the Year. “Of course, every man has his own path to follow and for Kelechi to have started his career with Manchester City was a positive thing but he was left with his own ability to adapt and do the right thing.
“He enjoyed good playing time and opportunity under Pellegrini but everything changed for him under Guardiola who is a totally different coach. It was always going to be difficult for Kelechi If we look at the way Man City plays under Guardiola, because every player is always involved when they are attacking or when they lose the ball.
“But defending especially when the team loses the ball had long been one of Kelechi’s problems right from his days with us in the Golden Eaglets. He is a good player but he lacks the ability to mark and this is something he has to work on.
“Marking ability is the key in modern football and sometimes a coach will prefer a less talented players who is ready to work his ass for the team than feature a lazy talented player; it is the hard work that is useful when skills fail,” noted the former Barcelona winger renowned for playing with uncommon gusto in his heyday.
Of course, Iheanacho’s career has been topsy-turvy with a combination of a loss of form and lack of confidence being his Achilles heel since he left Manchester City for Leicester City.
He posted three goals in 21 EPL matches in his first season with the Foxes and his form dipped further last season when he scored just one goal in 30 EPL matches with his other goals last season coming in the FA Cup including the first ever goal awarded by VAR in England in his side’s third-round replay against Fleetwood Town.
Also, his poor form also coincided with his poor run in the national team as well. He used to be one of the ‘untouchables’ in the early days of Gernot Rohr’s tenure as Super Eagles coach but the lad has not scored a goal for the national team since 2017 and was axed from the squad to the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) much to the consternation of his fans.
UK-based Dr. Deji Olarinoye, a FIFA Doping Control Officer, that has followed the career of Iheanacho from his days at the national Under-15 set up, said Iheanacho’s poor form is a combination of so many factors that are intricately interwoven.
“The ability of Kelechi has never been in doubt any way. I remember Etim Esin (retired Nigeria international) picking him and Chidera Eze out in 2011 at an Under 15 Pepsi International Tournament in Abeokuta,” Olarinoye, a two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup winner in 2013 and 2015 as Golden Eagles’ Team Doctor, said in an interview with The Nation.“ I remember Esin telling them ‘they both have the talents to go all the way but they must be hardworking and disciplined.
“I want to believe Kelechi and those around him will know the exact issues that have contributed to his poor form but I can only advise that he reassesses himself. I do strongly believe in him. Let me use this opportunity to state that Kelechi has often been played out of position by most coaches. He is best as a supporting striker and not as the main striker.
“On his fitness, it’s well known that a player that is not enjoying playing time tends to lose confidence and will further affect his chance for selection for both club and country. The player doesn’t need to be left on his own at this time, he needs all of our support to get back to his best; it won’t be too much to give him some psychological support,” noted Olarinoye.
World football is littered with players who failed to fulfil their immense potential with notable mentioning of the duo of Philip Osondu (the stocky striker who nearly led Nigeria to another FIFA U-17 World Cup title in 1987) and Macauley Chrisantus, the youngster who fired Nigeria to glory at the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Korea, under the guidance of late coach Yemi Tella and Manu Garba.
But Garba would be the first to defend his protégées, adding Iheanacho has everything going for him to overcome his present troubles.
“Macauley alias ‘Gucho ‘ was a prolific attacker and was the highest goal scorer at the 2007 AFCON U-17 tournament when we won the gold in Togo before he won the top scorer award in the FIFA U17 World Cup in South Korea 2007,” the 54-year-old Garba said. “Unfortunately he (Chrisantus) couldn’t manage success just like so many young African players.”
Nevertheless, Garba can’t hide his unending attraction for Iheanacho, a player he loves to call ‘Kele’. “I think Kelechi has age on his side and he has to keep distance from bad influence especially friends who like clubbing and living bad life.
“My advice to him now is to go and Goggle for videos of the FIFA U17 World Cup UAE 2013 and see his exploits especially the way and types of goals he scored.
“I believe it will motivate him to rediscover himself. He also has to train extra; and work hard on and off the pitch. I wish him well as he remains one of the best players that have played under me,” noted the foremost youth football coach.
Super Eagles’ German coach Rohr said Iheanacho must be Teutonic and must also be ready ‘to eat bitters’ as it’s often said in the Chinese language to mean ‘one must be ready to endure hardship’ since there is no pecan without pains.
“Kelechi used to be an important player for us in the Super Eagles,” the usual blunt Rohr said matter-of-factly. “He’s a very good left footed goal scorer with good fighting spirit. I hope he gets back his confidence. I don’t know what caused his lack of fitness and I think it’s only his coach at Leicester City (Brendan Rogers) that can answer that question because I saw him last in Asaba before the AFCON and I saw that he had fitness problem as well as suffering from lack of confidence.
“I think once he has his confidence back, fitness will come as a result of hard work. He used to be powerful and quick and I know he can recover all these qualities of old. The way to go about that is to keep working hard and ensure he convince his coach in Leicester City that he’s ready to do more.
“He is coach was wondering why I didn’t call him again after the Russia 2018 World Cup because he felt he was good enough but he also stopped using him because he was not okay. But he’s a good guy and with hard work he can do wonders,” noted the 66-year-old former Bayern Munich defender.
But for all his past triumphs and present troubles, the good news is that Iheanacho, the erstwhile FIFA Golden Ball winner, remains upbeat about his future targets even amidst speculations that he might be sent away from Leicester City to Aston Villa in the forthcoming January transfer window.
“I am happy here (at Leicester City), everyone is happy. The manager is a top manager who is friendly to everyone,” Iheanacho was quoted as saying in an interview with London tabloid, Daily Mail. “I don’t see the reason why anyone could want to leave. I think he gives everyone chances; there are a lot of games coming up.
“I believe in myself if I get the chance. It happens in football, sometimes you can face trying times or sometimes you can play. It is a time I have to face in my life and just have to keep going. I just have to keep my confidence and be strong,” he posited. (The Nation)
