Should Kelechi Iheanacho be starting every week for Manchester City? Besides Dele Alli and Marcus Rashford, no young forward player had a better breakout season than the Nigerian in 2015/16.
Iheanacho was already on the radar of City fans before last season after scoring a hatful of goals in the club’s youth teams. And UAE football fans may have seen him as part of Nigeria’s victorious Under 17 World Cup team that lifted the trophy in Abu Dhabi in 2013.
Iheanacho, 20, established himself as City’s second striker – and probably contributed to the departure of Wilfred Bony over the summer – with his performances last season.
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His statistics are sensational. He scored eight goals in just seven league starts (he made 15 appearances off the bench), four in three FA Cup starts and two in one League Cup start. Whenever he started a game City fans could expect a goal with that incredible strike rate.
This season has started in a similar vein: three league starts, four substitute appearances and three goals; one substitute appearance in the Uefa Champions League and one goal. The EFL Cup is the only competition he has yet to score in.
Every time Iheanacho takes to the pitch he seems to have an impact, as he did as a half-time substitute against Southampton on Sunday, coming on at 1-0 down to score the equaliser.
Why is he so effective? He provides something a little different to City’s other attacking players, apart from Sergio Aguero. He makes more direct runs, pulls the defence in different directions and has a killer instinct in front of goal.
But his biggest impact seems to be giving Aguero more freedom by taking some of the centre-backs’ attention away from him, and he has really good feet which makes him effective for one-twos with the Argentine around the edge of the box.
City manager Pep Guardiola has a reputation for innovation – the false 9, the sweeper-keeper, midfielders in defence. Perhaps he should consider this: playing two centre forwards. It is hardly revolutionary, but certainly out of fashion. In this title race, you have Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea playing one striker up front. So too do Manchester United. Only Liverpool’s 4-3-3 is particularly innovative.
It feels like Iheanacho has earned his chance of a run in City’s first team and, unless Guardiola is going to drop Aguero, the two should be paired together. Aguero is probably the league’s best striker but gets isolated during matches.
If you were to break down Guardiola’s first nine league games in charge of City, you would say they were already similar to his great Barcelona side. Often brilliant, but occasionally caught in possession and not enough goal threat. It has happened in three consecutive league games. City have had 58, 73 and 65 per cent possession, but scored just twice.
Playing two up front is a risk, but it could pay off in a big way for Guardiola.
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