Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare has allayed fears over Kelechi Iheanacho’s withdrawal in Friday’s pre-season friendly against Borussia Moechengladbach.
The Nigerian striker was substituted six minutes from time after coming on as a second half substitute in Leicester’s 2-1 win over the Bundesliga side at the King Power Stadium.
Iheanacho was introduced in the 66th minute of Friday night’s game in place of Japanese Shinji Okazaki when his side was still trailing after Thorgan Hazard’s 46th minute goal.
The Foxes equalised through Jamie Vardy barely one minute after Iheanacho’s introduction before the £25m acquisition from Manchester City provided the assist for what turned out to be the winner on 74 minutes.
Shakespeare speaking to Leicester TV after the game however said it was a “mere precaution” as he did not want Iheanacho to take another knock after the 20-year old was seen struggling.
“He’s fine in there. He’s getting a bit of a ribbing from the players in terms of him coming off.
“You can see the impact he’s had. We’re just really making sure that was more of a precaution. He hasn’t trained very often, he hasn’t been able to because of circumstance,” Shakespeare explained.
The news comes as some sort of comfort for Leicester fans who hope to have the prolific youngster available for next Friday’s Premier League opener against Arsenal.
Iheanacho’s compatriot Wilfred Ndidi, featured for 70 minutes in the friendly win. The pair that have played together for Nigeria at Under-17 and Under-20 levels. Ahmed Musa was however an unused substitute in Friday’s game.
