Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has praised the professionalism of Kelechi Iheanacho following a scathing assessment of the Nigerian striker by his national team manager Gernot Rohr.
Rodgers said Iheanacho has shown a “wonderful appetite” for learning at City’s Belvoir Drive training ground, contradicting the criticism from Rohr.
Iheanacho was left in Leicester for the recent international break, Rohr saying the 22-year-old “must be more professional” and adding that “it’s not good enough to be funny all the time.”
But Rodgers has seen plenty of commitment from the £25 million signing.
“When I saw him at Manchester City, he was always a young player that could come in and affect the game,” said Rodgers ahead of Leicester’s meeting with Bournemouth. “Then he’s come here with a big price-tag.
“From what I’ve seen in training and when I’ve spoken to him, he has shown a wonderful appetite and enthusiasm to get better.
“We have a culture where we want to improve players and make them better and he’s responded very well to that.”
Iheanacho has not scored a City goal in more than six months, but his opportunities to end the lengthy goal drought have also dried up.
He has not started any of City’s last 15 Premier League games, while he has played just seven minutes since Rodgers took the reins.
“It’s difficult for him because he’s up against one of the best strikers in this league, in Jamie Vardy, so that’s always going to be difficult unless the system changes,” said Rodgers.
“But he’s a great boy to work with and he’ll want to play more I’m sure.
“At this minute, it’s creating the confidence because he’s scoring goals in training and working very hard and adapting to how we want to play.
“And I’m sure when the time comes, if he gets a chance to play consistently, he will take that chance.”
11 Comments
This info about Kelechi is making me happy,in fact this is one of our future prospect I can only pray for him to find his scoring boot on again.The positives here is the testimony of his coach that he’s responding and above all he has positive disposition.#keleagain.
I believe iheanacho is gonna score tomorrow….. Or assist
It at this his much-diminished skillset, Iheanacho remains a decent football worthy of national team invitation.
What is becoming clear is that he doesn’t seem to be applying himself enough.
Me I will not give up on this guy because we still have a Kevin De Bruyne in our hands. I know Brendan Rodgers (and Rohr) see him as an out-and-out striker but I don’t think the responsibilities attached to this position will help Iheanacho in the short-to-medium term.
I think the best way to help Iheanacho is to immediately lift the requirement to score goals off his shoulders and concentrate him in a withdrawn role behind a main striker.
Concentration: the guy’s concentration span has gravely diminished and he doesn’t seem to realise it. What irritated his national team manager recently is that despite the diminishing returns in his play, Iheanacho appears to adopt a lackadaisical attitude to his own plight and this Rohr finds unprofessional and unhelpful.
Okocha almost lost his automatic start position in 1998 because of this same lackadaisical attitude (some might even argue that this attitude did not allow Okocha to play for the kinds of clubs, score the kinds of goals and win the kinds of accolades that a player of his immense skills should have achieved in the course of his career).
It will be a shame if Kelechi fails to fulfil his potential however, I can say that even if his skill-set does not improve, even at the current stage (with a right attitude) Kelechi remains a national team material.
@Deo, at this moment Kelechi is not a super Eagles material, politics aside who are we going to bench or disinvites for him. The Guy should be allowed to concentrate on his career, with time he would improve, he should stay off social media, for now, running around after all these pay as you nollywood fake stars would not do him any better.Look at what young Madison is doing at Leicester
O.K; if you say so Uncle Sunny B.
Much respect sir.
Despite how good Vardy is, if this coach really believes in Nacho as stated, not resting Vardy for once to give him a chance to start once in 15 games is not a true demonstration of confidence. As far as I am concerned, the coach is just being political. If he really loves Nacho he would tell him the truth instead of trying to make him feel good. Nacho simply needs to step up.
Brenda Rogers is a typical white man.
If you know what i mean, then good fir you.
If you have not lived with them you may or may not understand.
Jelechi my brother, you don’t need a prophet to tell you that if yiu can’t play in Leicester city that you have a big problem.
You need to buckle up.
Look at what yoyr mates are doing, that is enough to challenge you, dont he see Mbape etc.
Man up bro.
Don’t be contented with mediocrity.
If you have to change club , do it.
If you miss this nations cup, it will be the beginning of the end of your career .
Brenda Rogers is a typical white man.
If you know what i mean, then good for you.
If you have not lived with them you may or may not understand.
Kelechi my brother, you don’t need a prophet to tell you that if you can’t play in Leicester city that you have a big problem.
You need to buckle up.
Look at what your mates are doing, that is enough to challenge you, dont you see Mbape etc.
Man up bro.
Don’t be contented with mediocrity.
If you have to change club , do it.
If you miss this nations cup, it will be the beginning of the end of your career .
I watched Rashod of man united documentry fews days back. Rashod before now used to have his own extra training apart from the club’. How come, when some Nigeria players start touching little money they go into abysma ? This Kellechi used to be one of the delightful players in Eagles. He needs to wake up fast. How could he leave a bigger club to a smaller one and still can’t make impact ? I don’t fancy watching him anymore. He has lost his space, speed and skills. He needs to improve on himself.
Brendan Rodgers, Chris Houghton etc. I don’t see them proving their words with action. They want to see their players on the pitch with Nigeria, but don’t play them in their club games.
Club form determines national team call up and not the other way around
BigD, I wish I could give u an award for this comment!
They say Issac Success is superb, yet they keep him on the bench, even when he is fit. The same is the case of Iheanacho.
These coaches are just being diplomatic. Let them prove their words with action