Brendan Rodgers has talked up the importance of Leicester forward Kelechi Iheanacho ahead of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final, second leg at Aston Villa.
The Nigerian continued his remarkable scoring record this season with a seventh strike of the campaign in the 1-0 FA Cup win over Brentford on Saturday.
It booked Leicester’s spot in the fifth round and was just Iheanacho’s 12th outing this term, but he could be set for another in the week.
Jamie Vardy is making “good progress” after sustaining a glute injury on Wednesday against West Ham and yet if he fails to recover, the Foxes boss knows the former Manchester City striker is a ready-made replacement.
Rodgers said of Iheanacho: “He has worked very hard in training and knows he has the confidence of the coaching staff and everyone at the club.
“I also think it is natural and takes time. He made a big move, but hadn’t actually played a lot of football so for a young player, he needed games and confidence. It all stems from training.
“He has trained ever so hard and works so hard and now he has become really efficient where he is creating and scoring goals.
“It is brilliant for him because it was a difficult period when he came, but he is very much an important player for us.”
After moving to the King Power Stadium in the summer of 2017 for a reported fee of £25million, Iheanacho netted eight times in all competitions during his debut campaign.
The 23-year-old found life much harder last season and finished the term with only two goals from 35 appearances.
He endured a barren run of form which only ended at Luton in September when he found the net for the first time in 12 months and subsequently halted a run of 28 matches without a goal.
But while impressed with the hitman, Rodgers also knows the areas where he has to improve, adding: “He works with intensity and understanding.
“Defensively he wasn’t so good in the first half and switched off a number of times.
“We said at half-time we’ve let them out too easily so that is an area where he is improving, that tactical side, but he wants to score goals, he has pace and power and is a great asset for us.”
The former Liverpool manager admitted nothing from the cup tie at Griffin Park changed his thinking ahead of the second leg with Villa.
A win on Tuesday will send Leicester to Wembley and they only need two more victories in the FA Cup to reach the semi-final and book another date under the arch in April.
“I said when I came in I was pretty greedy to do the best I could for the club and create a mentality that sees you go into every game and every competition to win,” Rodgers added.
“We know the level and teams and the standard. We are into one semi-final, we are one game away from a quarter-final and our attitude is to win every game.
“Of course we want to do well in the league and we know going forward if we are going to compete in a European competition as well then we need a bigger squad, but the players have been first class and in every game we’ve tried to give everything to see where it takes us.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here