{"id":2915,"date":"2025-02-02T23:26:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T23:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2025\/02\/02\/rodgers-eyeing-reunion-with-this-former-leicester-city-star-why-celtic-must-make-it-happen\/"},"modified":"2025-02-02T23:26:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T23:26:28","slug":"rodgers-eyeing-reunion-with-this-former-leicester-city-star-why-celtic-must-make-it-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2025\/02\/02\/rodgers-eyeing-reunion-with-this-former-leicester-city-star-why-celtic-must-make-it-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"Rodgers Eyeing Reunion With This Former Leicester City Star: Why Celtic Must Make It Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>If a recent report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/sport\/14264505\/celtic-leicester-man-city-kelechi-iheanacho-brendan-rodgers-kyogo\/\">The Scottish Sun<\/a> is believed to be true, Celtic are eyeing a swoop for Kelechi Iheanacho before Monday\u2019s transfer deadline. They are on the hunt for a new \u2018number 9\u2019 after Kyogo Furuhashi\u2019s \u00a310m move to Rennes, and the Sevilla centre-forward, who worked under Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City, could ply his trade to Glasgow on an initial six-month loan with an option to buy.<\/p>\n<p>After impressing at Taye Academy in his homeland, the 28-year-old Nigerian joined the esteemed youth ranks of Manchester City. He eventually broke into City\u2019s senior side and notched 21 goals in 64 games.<\/p>\n<p>Although the centre-forward was hoping for more first-team football after completing a \u00a325m transfer to Leicester City in the summer of 2017, things did not work out in East Midlands despite spending seven long years there, including a season in the Championship.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_319567\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-319567\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-lazyloaded=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2168850851-2048x2048-1.jpg\" alt=\"Celtic target Iheanacho in action for Sevilla\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2168850851-2048x2048-1.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2168850851-2048x2048-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2168850851-2048x2048-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2168850851-2048x2048-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2168850851-2048x2048-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2168850851-2048x2048-1-750x500.jpg 750w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2168850851-2048x2048-1-1140x760.jpg 1140w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-319567\">MALLORCA, SPAIN \u2013 AUGUST 27: Martin Valjent of RCD Mallorca and Kelechi Iheanacho of Sevilla FC competes for the ball during the La Liga match between RCD Mallorca and Sevilla FC at Estadi de Son Moix on August 27, 2024 in Mallorca, Spain. (Photo by Rafa Babot\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Iheanacho settled for a bit-part role under Enzo Maresca, who guided them to an immediate top-flight return. His contract was not renewed, resulting in a Bosman switch to Sevilla last summer. So far, he has only made five starts in La Liga and has yet to score a league goal in nine appearances. His three Copa Del Rey goals came in the first two rounds against lower-league opponents.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Why Celtic Must Rope Him In<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Rodgers has done an incredible job to emulate Ange Postecoglou\u2019s legacy at Celtic Park. He relies on the signings made by the Aussie boss and has even sanctioned Jota\u2019s return in this window. However, the Northern Irishman also used his influence to bring Kasper Schmeichel as a free agent back in the summer. Iheanacho, the big Dane\u2019s teammate at King Power during Rodgers\u2019 managerial regime, could script a reunion north of the border.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/category\/leagues\/scottish-league\/celtic\/\">Celtic<\/a> are flying high in the Premiership and have also progressed to the knockout phase playoffs of the Champions League. They defeated bitter rivals Rangers to conquer the League Cup crown and their upcoming European encounter against Bayern Munich is expected to draw a lot of attention across the globe. The Bhoys, therefore, must bolster the squad to restore parity high up the pitch, particularly after Kyogo\u2019s high-profile exit.<\/p>\n<p>While Adam Idah has grabbed his opportunity with a brace against Aston Villa, Iheanacho would offer variation with his physicality, work rate and link-up play. Rodgers knows his game having managed him for over four years at Leicester City. The Hoops\u2019 free-flowing football should improve the numbers of the Super Eagles ace if a Parkhead move takes place in the final hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img data-lazyloaded=\"1\" alt=\"Pratyay Maitra\" src=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/99caba795be581dd389be17783993c42.jpg?ver=1738131523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/42284f8e6bd8d7f416c18e12e1851881.jpg?ver=1738131524 2x\" height=\"80\" width=\"80\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<h3> <a href=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/author\/4thpratyay\/\"> Pratyay Maitra\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/h3>\n<p> A sports enthusiast who reads, breathes, as well as dreams (mostly) about football and attempts to share his views with the fanatics by jotting down a few words.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If a recent report from The Scottish Sun is believed to be true, Celtic are eyeing a swoop for Kelechi Iheanacho before Monday\u2019s transfer deadline. They are on the hunt for a new \u2018number 9\u2019 after Kyogo Furuhashi\u2019s \u00a310m move to Rennes, and the Sevilla centre-forward, who worked under Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City, could [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12953,"featured_media":2916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12953"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}