Guardiola at Man City: What does Pep's arrival mean for Iheanacho?

The Bayern Munich boss will take over the Manchester City reins in the summer, and the prospect of a hook-up with the Nigerian wonderkid is tantalizing for both parties

The announcement of Pep Guardiola as the new Manchester City manager, effective from the summer of 2016, had an air of the inevitable. Arguably the best manager in the world, having repeatedly expressed a desire to manage in the world’s premier league; it was only logical he would select its best side.
That side now includes young Kelechi Iheanacho, another for whom the future seems inevitable: the Nigeria international is destined for the very apex of world football it appears, from the moment he led the massed Nigerian fans in the UAE in choreographed chants of ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ back in 2013.
Providence has brought them together, but they are absolutely crucial to the fulfilment of each other’s goals. Manchester City, while on their day the Premier League’s top side, have a number of key players either the wrong side of 30 or pushing it: Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, David Silva, Bacary Sagna, Aleksandr Kolarov, Vincent Kompany to name a few are all approaching the sunset of their careers.
Clearly, one of the first tasks facing Guardiola will be reinvigorating the squad, and though City’s succession planning has not been excellent, they have in Iheanacho one of the brightest prospects in world football. The fact he has prospered already this season with very little to work with by way of playing time shows he is ready for the step-up.

Is Iheanacho the future of Man City?

However, there are quite a few rumples that bear smoothing over, as well as one big question mark: what is the player’s best position? Having starred for Nigeria at U17 level cutting in from the right to slide through-balls through opposing defences, he has featured almost exclusively for Manchester City as a central striker.
There is a great deal of irony in acknowledging that, in spite of Iheanacho’s impressive goal-return, he does not yet understand the sort of movements strikers ought to make in certain situations, even though he displays impressive awareness. He is also painfully one-footed, and is not a consistent enough dribbler to get away with it, neither does he use his physique effectively to shield the ball.