Manchester City: Preseason squad rankings
By Tom Bogert
10. Kelechi Iheanacho
Give Pellegrini a lot of credit for trusting and incubating Iheanacho’s talent. Last season the Nigerian should have been behind Wilfried Bony but usurped him on merit. It’s brilliant that Pellegrini recognized that and didn’t hide behind Bony’s transfer fee and wages.
Speaking of Iheanacho vs. Bony, how disappointing does Bony’s reported total value of £33million from Swansea City look now? The deal was odd when it happened, anyway, for a club to splurge so much on another striker who can only play as a no. 9 even though they already had one of the best strikers in the world and almost always stuck to one up top.
Questionable decisions.
More from Manchester City
- Manchester City and their enigmatic coach stand on the cusp of greatness
- Three challenges Manchester City might face in upcoming season
- 3 potential destinations for Raheem Sterling next season
- Manchester City officially announce Erling Haaland signing
- Gabriel Jesus set for Manchester City departure
That’s why Iheanacho was really able to get around the roadblock that was Bony: he’s able to play underneath Aguero or wide.
Iheanacho and Bony made the same amount of appearances last season in the league, 26. Bony split his evenly between 13 starts and 13 cameos off the bench while Iheanacho only made seven starts. In 500 more minutes, Bony scored four less goals.
It’d be surprising if Bony was on the team come the end of this summer transfer window, he’s surplus to requirements thanks to Iheanacho. The 19-year-old looks a real talent and will only improve under Guardiola.
As it stands, Iheanacho pokes his way into the top 10 at City right now. After his extremely impressive season that he broke into the first team, Iheanacho will have the burden of minor expectation in 2016-17. He’s spoke recently how he wants to partner Aguero rather than just play backup and emergency striker for his annual injuries.