Have Manchester City unearthed a diamond?

In recent years, Africa has produced some of the greatest football players to grace the sport, such as Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, Michael Essien and George Weah – to name a few.

Many scouts have flown out to watch young African players in the hope of finding the next up and coming star for their respective clubs. However, it looks like Manchester City may have already discovered a future hero, in the shape of attacker, Kelechi Iheanacho.

For those that do not know, the young Nigerian is a centre-forward who is also very capable playing on either flank. He is just over six-feet tall but is not a typical target man who holds up play and looks to throw his weight around, in fact he is very much the opposite being more of a tricky player with a lot of flair, desire, speed and a keen eye for goal

It was Iheanachos performances for Nigeria at the Under-17 World Cup in 2013 (where he won the best player of the tournament award) which attracted strong interest from different clubs across Europe, such as Arsenal and Porto. In the end, it was City who signed the frontman but issues regarding a work permit meant that Iheanacho was ineligible to play in England until February 2015. He made his debut at U-19 level in a UEFA Youth League match against Schalke but was injured after eleven minutes.

After recovering from his injury, Iheanacho represented City at both youth and Under-21 level towards the end of the season. He played and scored in the FA Youth Cup Final, but ended up on the losing side as Chelsea defeated the young blues – on aggregate – by five goals to two. The following week saw him score the only goal as Manchester City defeated Porto in the final of the Premier League International Cup.

In July 2015, Iheanacho was chosen to be a part of Manuel Pellegrini’s squad on the pre-season tour of Australia. If City fans didn’t know who their number seventy-two was before, they certainly did after the blues first game of the International Champions Cup (ICC), as he starred in the 2-2 draw against Rudi Garcia’s Roma. The young Nigerian provided a sublime chipped through ball unleashing new signing Raheem Sterling, who helped himself to a debut goal inside two minutes with a composed finish.

The creator then became the finisher as Iheanacho bagged City’s second of the game, latching onto a calamitous back pass from Roma’s Ashley Cole, showing the composure of a veteran with a cute placed shot to the top-right corner.

Iheanacho spoke after the game down-under expressing his ambition.

He said: “I hope to break into the first team this year. The manager just says to me to work hard every day.”

With performances like the one against Roma (where he showed he can link up well with the regular first team City players and cause even the most resolute defences problems) Manuel Pellegrini surely cannot ignore Iheanacho’s plea for an opportunity to stake his claim at senior level for much longer.

After all, City would not want to repeat the blunder their red neighbours made with a certain Paul Pogba – closing the door on a prospective world-class player and allowing them to fulfil their potential elsewhere.

Photo: Robert Prezioso/Getty Images AsiaPac

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