Midland rivals Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion are going head-to-head for the signature of Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho, according to AllNigeriaSoccer.
While the £24 million Nigerian enjoyed his finest season in Leicester colours in 2019/20, the fact remains that a regular starting berth will be out of reach as long as Jamie Vardy is banging in the goals.
Even at 33, the evergreen Vardy remains as lethal as ever, becoming the oldest player to win the Premier League’s Golden Boot on Sunday.
So perhaps Iheanacho would be tempted to walk away from his ‘supersub’ role at the King Power, with Aston Villa and newly-promoted West Brom reportedly offering the 23-year-old a chance to become an undisputed starter for the first time in his career.
AllNigeriaSoccer reports that Newcastle are also interested, three years after he left Manchester City for Leicester in a £25 million deal (BBC).
An instinctive, penalty-box poacher, Iheanacho scored ten times in 26 matches this season, although many of those appearances came from the bench.
Given that Wesley Moraes, Mbwanna Samatta and Keinan Davis netted a combined six Premier League goals in 2019/20, Iheanacho should have few problems establishing himself as Dean Smith’s first-choice ‘number nine’ should he make 40 mile trip from Leicester to Birmingham.
West Brom were promoted back to the top flight a week ago.
And, while the goals were shared around in Slaven Bilic’s free-wheeling side, a prolific centre-forward is required if the Baggies are to avoid bouncing back into the Championship at the first time of asking.
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