Kelechi Iheanacho: Why is Leicester City striker still sticking around?

While all Nigeria supporters have had opinions about Kelechi Iheanacho's decline in recent years, few will disagree that the forward’s stock has fallen in the last few years.

His current status is a far cry from the forward who’d been destined for greatness after breaking out at Manchester City in the summer of 2015 under Manuel Pellegrini. At the end of the 2015/16 campaign, the then-City man had the best goals-to-minutes ratio in the division, and was constantly being compared with prodigious Manchester United attacker Marcus Rashford.

While neither have developed as their form from four years ago suggested, the Englishman is, largely, Man United’s main striker while Iheanacho threatens to disappear into oblivion.

When he moved to Leicester City in the summer of 2017 for £25 million, the Foxes took the plunge for the Nigeria international given their belief in his potential and desire to see him move to the next level at Belvoir Drive.

“It’s a great signing for us. Kelechi is an enormously talented player that has shown a huge amount of promise at every level in which he’s played,” then Leicester boss Craig Shakespeare asserted.

“We’ve tracked his progress for some time, so we know how much quality he’ll bring to the squad. He’s young, he’s hungry, he’s ready for the next stage of his development and I’m delighted that will be with Leicester City.”

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Manchester City reportedly have a buyback option for the frontman but he, as it stands, doesn’t seem any closer to returning to the Premier League champions. Frankly, the forward isn’t likely to have the top sides in England and Europe lining up to steal him from the East Midlands club if he’s made available for a transfer.

Ostensibly, Iheanacho’s current status at the club is unclear, but his recent omission from last weekend's squad to play Sheffield United at Bramall Lane was damning.

While he hadn’t received any match action in the first two games – against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea – the encounter against the league’s new boys presented the best chance to get his first minutes of the campaign, however, Brendan Rodgers didn’t see the need to involve the 22-year-old in any capacity.

In truth, as regards the player’s chances of playing, the writing was on the wall for Iheanacho after the summer signing of Ayoze Perez from Newcastle United. While the Spanish attacker has been played out wide in his appearances for Rodgers’ troops, the expectation is that the former Magpies man will get the nod at the Nigerian’s expense if the need to rest undisputed number one forward Jamie Vardy does spring up.

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Recent comments by Robert Huth regarding the prospect of having the former Man City man lead the line further highlights just how badly he’s valued at the moment.

“With Iheanacho, he hasn’t done it yet [proven to be a capable Vardy replacement], probably doesn’t look like he’s going to either, so I’m surprised they haven’t invested in that,” Huth told BBC Radio 5 Live [via Leicester Mercury].

“Eventually they are going to have to replace Vardy. I’m a little bit surprised they didn’t get in someone to kick him up the backside.”

The Super Eagle has really never got going at the King Power and it’s affected his international involvement as well, with Gernot Rohr omitting him from the final 23 that represented the West African nation at the Africa Cup of Nations. The fact that his inclusion in the provisional squad was met with criticism was additional evidence to his decline in recent years.

Iheanacho’s continued lack of involvement, regardless of Odion Ighalo’s retirement after Afcon, for September’s friendly with Ukraine emphasizes just how much he’s fallen in the pecking order, and it may not change soon if his current situation changes. 

He was not selected for their League Cup visit to Newcastle on Wednesday – with Vardy leading the attack and Perez playing out wide – and may have to wait for injuries or low-profile cup games to get gametime.

Iheanacho hasn’t quite moved to the next stage of his development like Leicester predicted, and with his seemingly stalled career, perhaps it’s high time to cut their losses on the out of favour frontman.