Kelechi Iheanacho

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This article is about the footballer born in 1996. For the footballer born in 1981, see Kelechi Iheanacho (footballer, born 1981).

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Kelechi Iheanacho
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Iheanacho playing for Manchester City in 2015
Personal information
Full name Kelechi Promise Iheanacho[1]
Date of birth (1996-10-03) 3 October 1996 (age 27)[1]
Place of birth Imo, Nigeria
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Manchester City
Number 72
Youth career
0000–2014 Taye Academy
2014–2015 Manchester City
2014 → Columbus Crew (loan)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015– Manchester City 26 (14)
International career‡
2013 Nigeria U17 7 (8)
2015– Nigeria U20 2 (0)
2015– Nigeria 4 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:05, 15 May 2016 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 31 May 2016

Kelechi Promise Iheanacho (born 3 October 1996) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Manchester City [2][3][4] and the Nigerian national football team. He has made appearances for Manchester City U-21 team,[5] as well as the Nigeria squad that won the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the Nigeria U-20 team at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[6][7] Iheanacho was called up to the Manchester City senior squad for the 2015–16 season.[8][9]

Club career

Early career

Iheanacho was born in Imo.[1] As a youth he represented Taye Academy in Owerri. His performances for Nigeria in the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup led to interest from clubs in Europe. Teams following his progress included Arsenal,[10] Sporting Clube de Portugal and Porto.[11] In December 2012 Iheanacho travelled to England to discuss a move to Manchester City. He signed a pre-contract agreement with the club, stating his intent to formally sign for Manchester City on his 18th birthday in October 2014.[12] In the interim, he returned to Nigeria. As the year drew to a close, the Confederation of African Football named him the Most Promising Talent of the Year for 2013 at the CAF Awards.[13]

Manchester City

Iheanacho joined Manchester City's Academy on 10 January 2014. Before the 2014–15 season, Manchester City visited the USA on a pre-season tour. Though still not formally a Manchester City player, Iheanacho joined up with the squad. He played and scored in the first match of the tour, a 4–1 win against Sporting Kansas City,[14] and scored again against A.C. Milan in a 5–1 win.[15] After the conclusion of the tour, Manchester City arranged for Iheanacho to train with Columbus Crew until mid-October.[16] Delays in obtaining a work permit meant Iheanacho was unable to play in England until February 2015. He made his debut at under-19 level in a UEFA Youth League match against Schalke 04, but was injured after only 11 minutes.[17] After his recovery, he began to represent Manchester City at both youth and under-21 level in the latter part of the season. He played in the FA Youth Cup final, where he scored, but ended on the losing side after Chelsea claimed a 5–2 aggregate victory.[18] The following week he scored the only goal as Manchester City beat Porto in the final of the 2014–15 Premier League International Cup.[19]

In July 2015, he was also included in City's pre-season tour team in Australia.[20] On the tour, he set up the first goal for Raheem Sterling and scored the second goal in the win against Roma in the 2015 International Champions Cup. He also set up Raheem Sterling for the 4th goal in City's 8–1 victory against Vietnam. In City's last pre season game against VfB Stuttgart, he came on as a substitute, scoring late on in a 4–2 defeat. Due to his impressive pre-season, Iheanacho was promoted to the Manchester City senior squad.[21]

On 10 August 2015, Iheanacho was included in a first-team matchday squad for the first time in a competitive fixture, however remained an unused subtitute in their 3–0 win at West Bromwich Albion in their first game of the Premier League season.[22] Nineteen days later he made his competitive debut, replacing Raheem Sterling for the final minute of a 2–0 win against Watford at the City of Manchester Stadium.[23] He scored his first competitive goal on 12 September, replacing Wilfried Bony in the final minute in a match away to Crystal Palace and scoring the only goal of the game.[24]

Iheanacho scored his first career hat-trick on 30 January 2016 against Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup, also setting up the 4th goal for Raheem Sterling.[25] The following month, he was put in City's UEFA Champions League squad at the expense of the injured Samir Nasri.[26] During February, Iheanacho scored against Tottenham Hostpur in a 2-1 home defeat for City.[27]

Iheanacho's next goals came on 23 April 2016, where he scored twice against Stoke City in a 4-0 victory.[28] He followed this up with a Champions League semi-final substitute appearance on 26 April 2016.[29] Five days later, 1 May 2016, he scored two again, albeit in a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Southampton.[30]

Iheanacho ended the 2015/16 season with 8 premier league goals and had the best goals per minute ratio of any player averaging a goal every 93.9 minutes.[31] In all competitions he finished with a record of 14 goals and 5 assists from 35 appearances, although he only started 11 of these games.[32] This meant that he ended the season as Manchester City's 3rd highest goal scorer.

International career

Iheanacho has represented Nigeria at youth levels from under-13 upwards.[33] His first experience of a major international tournament was the 2013 African U-17 Championship in Morocco. For Iheanacho, the highlight was a hat-trick in a win against Botswana. He dedicated his goals to his mother, who died two months before the tournament.[34] Nigeria reached the final of the competition, where they were defeated on penalties by Ivory Coast.[35]

Iheanacho played a significant role in the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, where he won the "Golden Ball" awarded to the player of the tournament.[36] Nigeria won the competition, in which Iheanacho scored six times, including a goal in the final, and provided seven assists.[36][37] In the run-up to the 2014 African Nations Championship Iheanacho trained with the senior Nigeria squad, but was released from the squad in order to travel to England to sign with Manchester City.[38] He was part of the Nigeria squad for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, and featured in two matches.[39]

Iheanacho made his first team debut as a substitute in a World Cup Qualifying game against Swaziland in which Nigeria drew 0-0.[40] His first start in the Nigerian national team was handed to him on the 25th March 2016 where Nigeria drew 1-1 against Egypt in an African Cup of Nations qualifying game.[41]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played on 15 May 2016
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Manchester City 2015–16[42] Premier League 26 8 3 4 2 2 4 0 0 0 35 14
Career total 26 8 3 4 2 2 4 0 0 0 35 14

International

As of match played 31 May 2016.[43]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Nigeria 2015 1 0
2016 3 2
Total 4 2

International goals

As of match played 27 May 2016. Nigeria score listed first, score column indicates score after each Iheanacho goal.[44]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 27 May 2016 Stade Robert Diochon, Rouen, France 3  Mali 1–0 1–0 Friendly
2 31 May 2016 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg 4  Luxembourg 2–0 3–1 Friendly

Honours

Club

Manchester City

International

Nigeria U17

Individual

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Tour-2015/2015/Official-Manchester-City-Tour-2015-squad-list/1436520345
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/stats?competition=1&season=20150&category=standard&sort=3
  32. ↑ http://us.soccerway.com/players/kelechi-iheanacho/319119/
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  44. ↑ Kelechi Iheanacho at Soccerway
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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