Aston Villa are confident they could move Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho away from the King Power Stadium in January for a bargain fee.
That’s according to Football Insider, who claim that Villa are confident they could sign the Nigerian striker for as little as £5-10 million.
The report claims that contract talks between the Foxes and Iheanacho have not progressed as the 27-year-old’s current deal expires at the end of the season.
That would explain the bargain price, which certainly seems to be the case, given that Leicester paid Manchester City £25 million to sign Iheanacho in 2017.
Aston Villa are eyeing Kelechi Iheanacho from Leicester City:
The above report comes after previous links between the player and Aston Villa ahead of the January transfer deadline.
Football Insider first claimed on 20 December that the Villans were interested in the 27-year-old, stating that the club had set their sights on the 27-year-old, as well as RB Leipzig’s Tim Werner, a former Chelsea player.
According to their report, Aston Villa’s priority is to bring in a new striker in January as Unai Emery wants to add attacking depth and a substitute for Ollie Watkins.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s stats for the 2023/24 season:
Given the current contract situation at the club, Leicester City will surely expect interest in Iheanacho before January.
However, this does not mean that losing him would be a minor blow.
Although the 27-year-old has come in and out this season, he showed how valuable he can be in the period from the end of September to the end of October, when he scored five goals in six appearances for the club, three of them from the bench.
Worryingly for Iheanacho, he started and finished Leicester City’s last two games on the bench as an unused substitute as the Foxes beat Birmingham City and Rotherham respectively.
This means that Iheanacho has played 18 games in the Championship so far, scoring five goals and one assist.
Nevertheless, given the quality Iheanacho possesses, it would be very difficult for Leicester to replace him with an equally talented striker in the Championship.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s Premier League record
Of course, a move to Villa would see Iheanacho return to the Premier League, where his record is respectable.
For example, Iheanacho made 196 appearances for Manchester City and Leicester in the English Premier League, scoring 70 direct goals in those matches.
Broken down, these 70 goals show that Iheanacho has scored 42 goals in the Premier League and recorded 28 assists in the Premier League.