Leicester City v Aston Villa Premier League 18/10/2020. Portrait Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City 14 during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Aston Villa at the King Power Stadium, Leicester, England on 18 October 2020. Editorial use only DataCo restrictions apply See www.football-dataco.com PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUK , Copyright: xJezxTighex PSI-10829-0086
According to BILD (h/t Leicestershire Live), Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City has been on the radar of RB Leipzig. The German side are looking to add another striker and Iheanacho is among the likes of Divock Origi and Kasper Dolberg. Leipzig manager Julian Nagelsmann is keen on signing one of them on loan for the rest of this season.
Iheanacho was always seen as a backup to Jamie Vardy who has been the club’s main striker for a while now. Nonetheless, with opportunities hard to come by at Manchester City, the Nigerian made the jump to Leicester.
Ever since joining the club, he has either played a substitute role or sometimes partnered Vardy in a two-pronged attack. Most of his starts have come in cup games or when Vardy needed to be rested. In fact, he actually has decent numbers for the Foxes. In 107 games, he has scored 23 goals and assisted 16.
The 23-year-old striker has enjoyed his best goal-scoring season for Leicester last season with 10 goals across all competitions since moving from rivals Manchester City three years ago. Despite that, Iheanacho has never really managed to establish himself at the King Power Stadium, with most of his appearances coming from the bench.
However, losing Iheanacho could prove to be costly for Leicester as they will be left with just two strikers in their ranks – Jamie Vardy and Ayoze Perez. Veteran striker Vardy still remains the side’s obvious first-choice man following his consistent goal-scoring exploits in front of the goal but Perez is more suited to a second striker or wider role.
There also remains the growing age concern of Vardy. The striker is now past his thirties, with Vardy already turning 34. Considering all this, Leicester would be committing a grave mistake if they allow the young Iheanacho to leave this summer, especially after putting up his best display for them in the recently concluded season.
It is clear that Leicester City lack depth in their striking department and offloading Iheanacho at such a time could affect their performance this season. Moreover, he is just 24 and has plenty of time to develop his game. The Foxes should keep faith in him and offer him more chances to prove his potential.