Kelechi Iheanacho wants one thing understood ahead of Nigeria’s clash with Rwanda: his preferred role is still at the tip of midfield, not up front.
The former Manchester City man addressed the debate with Victor Modo, days after being used as a makeshift striker alongside Victor Osimhen against Benin Republic in a game that ended 1-1.
Softfootball learnt that Iheanacho stayed diplomatic about wherever he’s asked to play, telling Modo:
Managers might think differently; wherever they put me I play. I’m serving the country, I’m playing. Anywhere I find myself I just go there and do my job.
For me personally, in the national team I would like to be a number 10, obviously a proper number 10, so it depends on the formation any manager is playing, you have to adapt to it as a football player. In the club, it’s different, I’m a number 9 but sometimes I play number 10.
The distinction matters to Iheanacho, who has spent much of his club career at Leicester and Sevilla operating closer to goal than he’d ideally like.
Where Eguavoen ultimately deploys him against Rwanda will say a lot about how much weight that preference carries.
