Sunday marked a great weekend for Leicester City football club, as the blue foxes continued their brilliant run of form on the English premier league, pummelling Sheffield United 5-0, to maintain their third position on the log in their quest to qualify for Europe’s top competition, the UEFA champions league, next season.
Nigeria’s super eagles striker, Kelechi Iheanacho was the star of the occasion, the former youth prodigy turned back the hands of time, as he netted a fantastic hattrick to propel his team to a comfortable win over the premier league bottom dwellers. Kelechi who has been struggling for form and playing time since moving to the east Midlands, showed why he was regarded as a future superstar and a player to watch out for while he was dominating the world U-17 championship in UAE, 2013, leading Nigeria to the title and winning the best player of the tournament in the process.
In the summer of 2013, Kelechi had the world at his feet after just winning the U-17 world championship and being recognized as the world best player in that age bracket, Iheanacho was destined for greatness with so many great European clubs hovering over him to snap him up, he would later end up with Premier league big spenders, Manchester city, where he would continue his journey to stardom. At city, he was integrated into the team gradually, joining the team on their USA preseason tour where he scored a goal in the first match of the tour against Kansas city and another against Ac Milan. He would join the team youth system after he was granted a work permit and gradually made his way into the first team unit of the club. In his first full season under the guidance of Manuel pellegrini, he scored 14 goals in 35 appearance and helped the team reach the semi finals of the champions league, farthest the club had ever gone in Europe’s biggest competition. He struggled a bit in his second season under a new manager, Pep Guardiola, scoring only 7 goals in 29 appearances, which led to him being offloaded to Leicester city the following season.
At Leicester, Kelechi was supposed to bring in a new breathe of life to a team that was trying to replenish a squad that has been plundered with most of its best players leaving for greener pastures. He would later underperform, scoring just 4 premier league goals in his first two seasons and 10 overall in all competitions. Last season seems to bring a breathe of fresh air as kelechi seemed to have turned the corner scoring 10 goals in 26 appearances and matching his goals return in his previous two seasons combined. He looked to have reverted back to status quo as he started this season a little poorly but he seems to have regained his confidence as his exploit in the Europa league has shown this season and Sunday further emphasized that he might be coming back to his best. Sunday’s hattrick brings his total tally to 10 goals matching his previous season and puts him behind Jamie Vardy (14 goals), as the club second highest scorer this season.
It might be a small sample size, but it must be noted that Kelechi Iheanacho is having the best time of his life in Leicester city, and we hope he can continue to soar higher as his game expands.
Sailor
