Manuel Pellegrini got the best out of Kelechi Iheanacho at Manchester City but could he do the same at Leicester?
Leicester City are on the lookout for their fourth permanent manager since being promoted to the Premier League in 2014. And, if you had any concerns about a lack of preparation at the King Power, the suggestion that The Foxes could revert once again to continental experience after dabbling with old-school English coaches suggests there’s no real succession plan in place.
After Nigel Pearson came Claudio Ranieri. Then long-serving number two Craig Shakespeare got the job on a permanent basis. Just a few months later, however, Shakespeare’s sonnet is over and veteran Chilean Manuel Pellegrini is top of Leicester’s shortlist.
The Sun claim that Leicester’s owners are hoping to tempt the 64-year-old away from Hebei China Fortune with a big transfer budget. Though there would most certainly be one player in Leicester’s ranks who would welcome Pellegrini with open arms.
It’s fair to say Kelechi Iheanacho has endured a stop-start beginning to life at Leicester. The 2015 Premier League champions paid around £25 million to bring the prodigious Nigerian hitman to the Midlands in the summer, per the BBC.
Thanks to a lack of fitness and form, however, Iheanacho has not looked like living up to that transfer fee just yet. The 21-year-old hasn’t scored in six league games and received plenty of criticism for an ineffectual performance in last Monday’s 1-1 draw with West Brom.
Iheanacho looked like a superstar-in-waiting under Pellegrini at former club Manchester City, however. He scored eight goals in seven starts during a stunning breakthrough season in 2015/16 and boasted one of the best goals-per-minute ratios in Premier League history.
Could Pellegrini be the man who gets Iheanacho firing again at Leicester?
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