Moving Target – Kelechi Iheanacho

Leicester City completed their fourth senior summer signing with the capture of Manchester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho for an undisclosed fee, understood to be £25 million.

The 20-year-old put pen to paper on a five-year deal with the Foxes and, according to Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare, can take the next step in his career at the King Power Stadium:

“Kelechi is an enormously talented player that has shown a huge amount of promise at every level in which he’s played. 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.”

The History

Iheanacho began his youth career at Taye Academy in his native Nigeria, before linking up with City in January 2014, although he would only formally sign with the Citizens in October 2014 once he turned 18 years old.

After spending the remainder of the 2014/15 season representing City at both youth and U21 level, Iheanacho made a big impression during pre-season ahead of the 2015/16 campaign.

He made his professional debut as a late substitute in a 4-0 win over Watford in August 2015 and scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace in the following league match.

The Nigerian ended up making 26 league appearances in 2015/16, registering eight goals and two assists.

Iheanacho began last season in favour under new City boss Pep Guardiola, producing three goals and three assists in his first seven league outings while Sergio Aguero was suspended.

But following the arrival of Gabriel Jesus in January, Iheanacho fell down the pecking order and only made five substitute appearances from that point onwards.

After scoring 11 goals in 12 appearances for Nigeria at U17 level and playing two matches for the U20s, Iheanacho made his senior debut against Swaziland in November 2015.

He has made 10 appearances for his country, producing five goals and two assists.

The Prospects

The significant outlay on Iheanacho indicates that Craig Shakespeare sees the Nigerian as a worthy partner for Jamie Vardy in attack.

Club-record signing Islam Slimani endured a difficult first season at the King Power Stadium, managing just seven goals and four assists, while Ahmed Musa was even less successful, netting just twice.

After taking over from Claudio Ranieri in February, Shakespeare generally favoured a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Shinji Okazaki in the support striker role behind lone forward Vardy.

Okazaki’s place in the starting XI now looks vulnerable, with Iheanacho certainly capable of playing in that position. Although it’s unlikely he’ll be able to match the work rate of the Japanese international, which was crucial to the Foxes’ title success in 2015/16.

Iheanacho could also operate in a wider role, although that’s not a familiar position, while Marc Albrighton, Riyad Mahrez and Demarai Gray are all strong options on the flanks.

Iheanacho & Vardy – Passes Received – 2016/17 – All Matches

The heatmaps above – showing the zones where both Iheanacho (left) and Vardy (right) received passes last season – offers some clues as to possible roles.

Clearly, Vardy can either be deployed or will gravitate to Leicester’s left flank. In contrast, Iheanacho received most of his passes for Man City closer to the right channel. Given that evidence, there is every indication that both strikers can operate as a pairing, using their pace and movement to stretch opponents.

Iheanacho should be capable of adjusting to his new surrounds and the potential partnership with Vardy. He boasts a well-rounded game and can hold the ball up to bring his team-mates into play, but it’s his instincts in the box that are key to this talents.

The left-footed striker recorded a goal conversion rate of 18.2% last season and a hugely impressive 28.6% back in 2015/16.

Indeed, no player who has scored at least 10 goals since the start of the 2015/16 season has a better minutes-per-goal rate (106.5) than Iheanacho.

The Nigerian also has clever movement and enough pace over short distances to get away from defenders, while his touch and control are exemplary for one so young.

Neither he nor Vardy boast the greatest physical attributes, though, and both offer a limited aerial threat, although Iheanacho does stand at 6ft 1in tall.

But the pair are undeniably goalscorers, and should they be able to form an understanding quickly, the Foxes could improve significantly on the 48 goals they managed last term.

Iheanacho only played 537 minutes last season – a small sample size – but impressively he averaged a shot every 24 minutes.

That was better than Slimani (36.57) and significantly superior to both Vardy (53.02) and Okazaki (54.41).

The former City forward also led the way in terms of creativity among the quartet.

He produced a key pass every 40.62 minutes – far better than Slimani (75.29), Vardy (90.65) and Okazaki (112.71).

While he was part of a far more potent City attack, the numbers are hugely encouraging regarding Iheanacho’s prospects, particularly when we consider his 7.0 price tag in Fantasy Premier League (FPL). His Sky Sports price is a rather less appealing 10.2m.

By comparison, Vardy comes in at 8.5 in FPL, with Slimani and Okazaki priced at 7.0 and 5.5 respectively.

Leicester’s opening fixtures (ars BHA mun CHE hud LIV), along with the uncertainty over the future of key midfielder Mahrez, will likely find Fantasy managers showing extreme caution over the early Gameweeks.

That could give us the chance to assess how the expected Vardy/Iheanacho partnership shapes up, while the Nigeria international may also need time to build his match sharpness, having failed to feature for Man City during the pre-season.

Whether Iheanacho operates in the support striker role or alongside Vardy in a 4-4-2, his contributions over the past two seasons suggest that he should flourish if handed regular pitch-time.

Providing that Leicester can build on the renaissance under Shakespeare at the back end of last season, there’s every chance Iheanacho can emerge as one of the leading mid-price forward options in FPL.

Leicester’s dire pre-season form and a testing opening schedule makes early investment unlikely, but the potential from Gameweek 7 – when the fixture list turns in the Foxes’ favour – could book Iheanacho a place our squads.

Further Reference

Kelechi Iheanacho Wikipedia

Kelechi Iheanacho Transfer Markt Page

Kelechi Iheanacho 2016/17 You Tube Highlights