Super Eagles forward Kelechi Iheanacho has been hailed by Leicester City teammates, Wilfred Ndidi and Christian Fuchs, as The Foxes’ standout penalty kick taker.
Iheanacho’s Nigeria teammate, Ndidi, and former Austria International, Fuchs, told Leicester Mecury’s online news channel, LeicestershireLive, that they have seen the striker hit the back of the net with unbelievable ease, better than anyone else at the club.
Ironically, Iheanacho has netted one goal from the spot-kick only during a shootout, and none from regular play in his three seasons so far at the club. According to the report, he scored the winner when Leicester City beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 2018/2019 Carabao Cup match at the Molineux.
The 23 year year old has netted 20 goals and bagged 12 assists from 89 matches in all competitions for The Foxes in his three seasons at the club so far.
However, despite the statistics, Fuchs who has been at Leicester since July 2015 and Ndidi who had been around for about seven months before Iheanacho’s arrival from Manchester City in August 2017, know they are speaking authoritatively about what they have seen of the striker’s spot-kick prowess.
“Kelechi’s never missed a
penalty. I’ve never seen him miss a penalty,” Ndidi responded when asked to name the City player he’d back to score a decisive penalty.
The Foxes’ Spanish forward, Ayoze Perez, who joined the club in July last year sounded oblivious of Iheanacho’s spot-kick savvy as claimed by his older teammates, saying with raised eyebrow: “When is he even taking penalties?”
Ndidi reacted: “You’ve not seen him? He never misses, and Fuchs corroborated: “He’s unbelievable. The best penalty taker I’ve seen.”
According to the report, “In total, City have received 21 penalties since Iheanacho arrived from Manchester City. Jamie Vardy has taken 17 of those, scoring 14. The others have fallen to James Maddison, who has scored one from two, Ayoze Perez, who bagged his only spot-kick, and Demaral Gray, who saw his only penalty saved.”
