Leicester City have reportedly pipped Tottenham Hotspur to the signing of Kelechi Iheanacho.
According to The Telegraph, Leicester City have beaten Tottenham in the race to sign Kelechi Iheanacho for £25million – but Manchester City will have a £50million buy-back clause in the deal.
The Foxes have already added the likes of Eldin Jakupovic, Harry Maguire and Vicente Iborra this summer, but adding another striker has also been a priority for manager Craig Shakespeare.
Jamie Vardy endured an up-and-down season, Islam Slimani didn’t live up to his price tag, Shinji Okazaki has never been a consistent goalscorer and neither Ahmed Musa or Leonardo Ulloa look to be in line for major playing time.
Now, The Telegraph report that Leicester have struck a deal to sign Manchester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho in a £25million deal, beating the likes of Monaco, Tottenham and West Ham to his signature.
However, it’s added that Manchester City will have a £50million buy-back clause in the deal, with Pep Guardiola’s men retaining the right to bring back the Nigerian talent should be fulfil his potential at the King Power Stadium.
The 20-year-old has hit an impressive 21 goals in 64 appearances for City, and could have been the goalscorer that Tottenham are looking for in their pursuit of adding firepower to support star striker Harry Kane – but the terms of this deal don’t seem ideal for Spurs chairman Daniel Levy anyway.
City’s £50million buy-back clause gives them the chance to re-sign Iheanacho without opposition from Leicester, whereas Levy loves to negotiate and get the best deal for Tottenham, as seen with the recent big-money sale of Kyle Walker to City themselves.
It’s difficult to see Levy ever accepting terms on a buy-back clause as he would have little to no control over the fee involved or when Spurs would be vulnerable to losing the player in question, meaning that whilst Iheanacho may have been a smart signing, the terms just simply don’t suit Tottenham.
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