He has the weapon to fight because this has been given to him by us. I believe he will still be able to fulfil his potential.
Manchester City’s striker Kelechi Iheanacho completed his medical on Tuesday as he nears a £25m switch to Leicester City.
The 20 year old was deemed surplus to requirements at the Etihad and a potential move to the King Power Stadium has dominated back pages since the end of last season.
With Iheanacho now a regular at international level with Nigeria, it is understandable that the former Under-17 World Cup Golden Ball winner will look for more first team assurances elsewhere.
Craig Shakespeare’s Foxes are not short of talents going forward but it is widely believed that Iheanacho’s talent brings something different to the plate, a view his former coach at age grade level with Nigeria, Nduka Ugbade shares.
“He is still very young and has great potential for success. To fulfil this potential, he must be able to play all the time which I believe given his talents, Leicester City will give him that,” Ugbade told ACLSports.
Playing at Leicester City will also mean a change to what Iheanacho was used to in his last two seasons at Manchester City with Leicester’s “typical English style” somewhat different from City’s highly technical approach.
“The game at Leicester is very very quick and a typical English style. Kelechi is also a fast lad and should do a job that will give him the edge and strength so that from there he can move to a bigger team,” Ugbade, himself a World Cup winner at Under-17 level added.
With Iheanacho developing under his watch at both Under-17 and Under-20 level in Nigeria, Ugbade still firmly believes the prodigy will achieve the potential he saw in him at that level but advises him to keep his discipline.
“This is just the beginning and to achieve bigger things, he must realise that vision alone doesn’t take one there.
“In realisation of the vision, there must be a lot of hard work, discipline and determination. He must be fully dedicated to the vision even if it means he will set goal scoring targets for him.”
“This is just it. Not playing up to ten games in a season was not good for him. But he still proved himself, now he will be having close to 30 matches. He has the weapon to fight because this has been given to him by us. I believe he will still be able to fulfil his potential,” Ugbade affirmed.
A formal announcement is expected soon on Iheanacho’s move which will make him the most expensive Nigerian footballer ever.
