Leicester City have signed the striker Kelechi Iheanacho from Manchester City for a reported £25m . The 20-year-old signed a five-year contract on Thursday, having had a medical at the club’s training ground earlier in the week.
The deal represents a coup for Craig Shakespeare while Iheanacho, who was also a reported target for West Ham earlier this summer, could make his Leicester debut in Friday’s friendly against Borussia Mönchengladbach at the King Power Stadium.
Iheanacho told to LCFC TV: “It feels good and I’m happy to be part of this team. I know the ambition of the team and speaking with the manager, he let me know what I need to do - to help the team achieve what they want. I was convinced and I’m happy to be here.”
He becomes the fourth new arrival at Leicester during the close season following the midfielder Vicente Iborra, the goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic and the defender Harry Maguire.
Iheanacho will wear the No8 shirt and joins fellow Nigeria internationals Wilfred Ndidi and Ahmed Musa at the 2016 Premier League champions.
Shakespeare said: “It’s a great signing for us. Kelechi is an enormously talented player that has shown a huge amount of promise at every level in which he’s played. We’ve tracked his progress for some time, so we know how much quality he’ll bring to the squad. He’s young, he’s hungry, he’s ready for the next stage of his development and I’m delighted that will be with Leicester City.”
Iheanacho signed a new contract with City until 2021 at the beginning of last season but saw his first-team opportunities curtailed by the arrival of the Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus in January.
The academy product still made nine starts and 21 substitute appearances for Pep Guardiola’s team last term, scoring nine goals. In total he scored 21 goals in 64 games in all competitions since making his debut for City in 2015, while he has scored six goals in 10 appearances for Nigeria.