Why Leicester City should cash in on Kelechi Iheanacho this summer

As the clock ticks, silence prompts the calm before the storm for Leicester City fans. Brendan Rodgers’ suggestion of an impending summer rebuild has ignited the shared interests of City’s loyal fanbase.

An estimated overhaul is imminent to eliminate redundancy in the club’s rankings. Apart from the obvious ones, some more players can potentially leave on their own accord as their chances of contributing to the team have diminished. Pushing for a move would be easy for the agents of such players as the outfit will not be offended by such a chance to add resources for bringing in new players.

Additions to the forward line are needed. It’s 2022, and the King Power side is more than ever reliant on Jamie Vardy for his outputs. That needs to change, and the only way to do that is to get players who are consistent around Europe. With all the players elsewhere accepting offered roles in much smaller Premier League sides, Leicester shouldn’t hesitate to act boldly.

Leicester City needs to offload benched players

Along with that line of thought, it is quite possible that such a situation arises soon when you start to ponder over the situation of Kelechi Promise Iheanacho. The player has had one of his best seasons in a Leicester City shirt in the 2020/21 season.

With 16 starts in 25 appearances, the Nigerian forward scored 12 goals in the league and provided two assists. The general idea of the supporters of the outfit was that for the next season, Rodgers would be cashing in on his form and developing him further to suit the assigned role with more prominence. But unfortunately, that never came to pass. For whatever reason, initially, Iheanacho was not utilized as the season before as the club continued to struggle in other delicate areas.

Only 16 starts in the league for the 2021/22 season, everyone saw the same player struggle to compete for minutes against Patson Daka. By now, we have all witnessed his underlying reliability issues, but his scoring tally was one thing that was regularly proving his critics wrong.

Even that tally began to dry up when the team demanded more from him. With Jamie Vardy on the sidelines, Iheanacho scored less and assisted more. It was not something a forward should be particularly proud of.

Worrying signs in the National team

Irregularity in game time in the Premier League has not been helpful for the 25-year-old Nigeria international. The manager of the Nigerian national team- José Peseiro, has kept Iheanacho away from his plans since 26th March, when Nigeria drew against Ghana for their World Cup qualifications.

The Super Eagles have had five international outings since that game, and Iheanacho hasn’t been selected into the squad in their last four. If the Leicester City forward doesn’t find chances under Rodgers, his omission from the national team could stay permanent.

Rising talents like Umar Sadiq, Cyriel Dessers, Terem Moffi, and Victor Osimhen have taken over Kelechi’s spot. So, after finishing seven seasons in England’s top tier, the time has come for the player to look at his options as his chances have become limited at the King Power.

The contract and the potential chances of a move

Kelechi Iheanacho’s contract expires in the summer of 2024, which gives Leicester City plenty of leverage for playing the negotiations game. His value remains stagnant at around £15 to £18 million. The player has impeccable injury resistance as he rarely misses any of his matches.

His agency, ICM Stellar Sports, has aided its clients to secure some spectacular deals around Europe, and if the offer is genuine, we can see the Nigerian depart us sooner than later. Clubs within the league such as Everton and Aston Villa could be interested as they were in the recent times to provide them with the extra bit of that firepower that they are clearly lacking.