Kelechi Iheanacho is not having the best of time at Manchester City at the moment, the arrival of Pep Guardiola last summer has pushed him down the pecking order and odds of him with no deposit bets to leave the Etihad Stadium either on lian or permanently have been slashed.
The Nigerian striker shone brightly under former boss Manuel Pellegrini, scoring 14 times in all competition
last season, including a hat-trick in a FA Cup clash with Aston Villa, but his chances has been drastically reduced this season.
He doesn’t seem to have impressed his Spanish boss enough and the arrival of Jesus Gabriel has made game time more difficult for him to get. The Brazilian kid has also succeeded in pushing City talisman Sergio Aguero out of the first team before his injury as Guardiola preferred the attacking trio f Gabriel,Rahemm Sterling and Leroy Sane.
Back in September before Gabriel’s arrival, Kelechi had stepped in successfully following Aguero’s suspension,scoring two goals in two games, including the winner at Old Trafford but he has found it hard to get noticed by Guardiola.
Guardiola had insisted the 20-year-old remained an important member of his squad, cancelling out a loan move for him in January but his actions has betrayed his words.
Ordinarily he would have got more playing time under his belt under Pellegrini but this is Guardiola and the former boss doesn’t feel Iheanacho is good enough or be impressed with his work rate.
Gaurdiola had complained about the fact that Aguero need to more outside the box and with Iheanacho also essentially a penalty-box striker, that could also be standing in his way of getting into his boss plans.
He has made 24 appearances this season at mostly from the bench. And the probability that would be better next season is against him, Gabriel is expected back and will be thrown straight into the squad as was earlier.
Gaurdiola plans a major overhaul of the team this summer and chances of Kelechi remaining at the Etihad Stadium are extremely slim. Though the young lad has vowed to stay back and win over his boss.
The Nigerian is clearly at a crossroad of his Man City career and a move away from Etihad Stadium would be for his own interest and development. With Aguero, Gabriel and Sterling preferred ahead of him in the striker hierarchy a stagnated career for him looms.
And for him to remain an integral part of the Super Eagles he needs more game time. More importantly he needs to work more on his productivity, do more than scoring occasionally and work on his movement as well as his confidence.
