Iheanacho eyes EPL debut against West Brom

In from Nifemi Daniel …

Flying Eagles striker, Kelechi Iheanacho, looks set to make his first competitive appearance for Manchester City, as well as his English Premier League debut, next Monday when the Citizens take on West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns following recent developments at the former English champions.

In the past couple of weeks, the Citizens have played six games in readiness for the upcoming Premier League season, and Iheanacho has featured in five of them, impressing throughout and scoring two goals.

With Stevan Jovetic now at Inter Milan and Edin Dzeko set to move to Italian side Roma, the 18-year-old looks set to be Pellegrini’s third choice in the attacking department behind Sergio Aguero and Wilfred Bony.

Read also: Iheanacho eyes Madrid upset

Iheanacho has also forged a good on-field understanding with Manchester City’s £44 million signing Raheem Sterling, unlike Bony, who played an unproductive first half alongside the former Liverpool forward against Stuttgart.

“It was an honour to play with Sterling, he’s a very good player. He’s intelligent, skillful and strong,” said Iheanacho. “This season I hope to be at City. I’ve been training hard with them during pre-season and I hope this is the time for me to break into the first team.

Pellegrini has indicated Aguero won’t be ready for the trip to West Brom after getting extra time off to recuperate from Argentina’s Copa America campaign, while Bony has seen just 45 minutes of pre-season action – in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Stuttgart – after illness kept him out of the club’s tour to Australia and Vietnam.

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