The Nigerian forward was the club’s FA Cup hero in 2021, but now that the competition has returned, he is hoping to make only his third appearance of the season, with Patson Daka and Jamie Vardy favored.
Few players have gone zero to hero quite as spectacularly as Kelechi Iheanacho did at Leicester City.
A penalty miss at Crystal Palace in late December 2020 was the final straw for many City supporters. The consensus was that a new deputy for Jamie Vardy was desperately required, and Iheanacho needed to be cast aside. Even Brendan Rodgers had lost patience, choosing to start Ayoze Perez in place of the injured Vardy in January 2021.
But a series of injuries that February, particularly one to winger Harvey Barnes, left Rodgers with no choice but to change his set-up. Iheanacho, who had scored zero domestic goals for the season at that point, was drafted back in.
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Finally given an extended opportunity, Iheanacho excelled. In the final four months of that season, Iheanacho played 20 matches and scored an astonishing 16 goals, as well as providing three assists.
His star shined greatest in the FA Cup. He scored a last-minute winner against Brighton on a bitterly cold night, twice against Manchester United in the quarter-finals, and then the game-winning goal against Southampton in the semi-finals. In the process, he surpassed Didier Drogba to become the competition’s highest-scoring African.
City fans overwhelmingly agree that without Iheanacho, the team would not have broken their FA Cup hoodoo and finally gotten their hands on the trophy that had eluded them for so long. As City prepares to return to the FA Cup, fans are wondering why he isn’t on the field.
This season, the Nigerian has only started two games. He scored inside 60 seconds in the only Premier League game in which he appeared. His lack of playing time comes despite the fact that Patson Daka and Jamie Vardy are not scoring as frequently as City would like. Dakota has not scored in his previous nine appearances, while three of Vardy’s four goals have come in the Carabao Cup against lower-league opponents.
So why is Iheanacho not getting a chance? Is there anything he can do to convince Rodgers he deserves an opportunity?
“I think it’s because of Patson and his pressing and how he has done when he’s played,” the City boss said this week. “Obviously none of our strikers have scored a great number of goals. I put that down to other aspects of their game, rather than them not finishing.
“He (Iheanacho) has played better in a two, rather than up there on his own. Kel’s a specific type of striker. When I have gone for pace, which I normally have through the central area, it’s been Patson or Cards who I’ve played.
“Obviously if ever I’ve needed to swivel it to two up front, then he’s been a part of that. But he’s a really good option for us, whether he begins on the bench or he starts. Sometimes Kel comes into the game and is amazing and then he’ll do something in the same game which is not so good.
“But what I always get from him is 100 percent commitment. I’m always pretty sure, whether he starts or comes off the bench, he always gives his very best.”
It’s very rare that Rodgers plays with two up front now. The only match he has tried it this season was at Brighton, and while Iheanacho and Daka both scored, it was also City’s poorest showing of the campaign. Changing shapes to get Iheanacho into the side is not something Rodgers has really considered.
“We can go to a diamond structure and that then takes out your wingers,” Rodgers said. “I think it’s pretty clear how we play. We play 4-3-3 and then it’s trying to adapt what we don’t have to make it work.
“Like we’ve done with James Maddison this season, sometimes we’ve had to play him off the side. Sometimes Kels has come in and played off the side.
“But I think if you are going to toy with the two then you are changing your general framework, which we have done previously. But I’ve usually been 4-3-3, and then there are in-game alterations, such as the ones we made the other night when we were chasing the game.
“It’s not necessarily about getting started. In today’s game, you need somebody to come in and complete the game and contribute something off the bench because it’s critical.”
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