The Nigeria international becomes
Leicester’s fourth signing of the summer on
a five-year deal.
Leicester City have signed the striker
Kelechi Iheanacho from Manchester City for
a reported £25m . The 20-year-old signed a
five-year contract on Thursday, having had
a medical at the club’s training ground
earlier in the week.
The deal represents a coup for Craig
Shakespeare while Iheanacho, who was also
a reported target for West Ham earlier this
summer, could make his Leicester debut in
Friday’s friendly against Borussia
Mönchengladbach at the King Power
Stadium.
Iheanacho told to LCFC TV: “It feels good
and I’m happy to be part of this team. I
know the ambition of the team and
speaking with the manager, he let me know
what I need to do – to help the team
achieve what they want. I was convinced
and I’m happy to be here.”
He becomes the fourth new arrival at
Leicester during the close season following
the midfielder Vicente Iborra, the
goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic and the
defender Harry Maguire.
Iheanacho will wear the No8 shirt and joins
fellow Nigeria internationals Wilfred Ndidi
and Ahmed Musa at the 2016 Premier
League champions.
Shakespeare said:-
“It’s a great signing for us. Kelechi is an
enormously talented player that has shown
a huge amount of promise at every level in
which he’s played. We’ve tracked his
progress for some time, so we know how
much quality he’ll bring to the squad. He’s
young, he’s hungry, he’s ready for the next
stage of his development and I’m delighted
that will be with Leicester City.”
Iheanacho signed a new contract with City
until 2021 at the beginning of last season
but saw his first-team opportunities
curtailed by the arrival of the Brazil
forward Gabriel Jesus in January.
The academy product still made nine starts
and 21 substitute appearances for Pep
Guardiola’s team last term, scoring nine
goals. In total he scored 21 goals in 64
games in all competitions since making his
debut for City in 2015, while he has scored
six goals in 10 appearances for Nigeria.