Why Iheanacho should be worried by Maddison and Barnes return

The Nigerian forward will be looking to continue from where he left off for the new campaign.

One would expect the likes of Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Bruno Fernandes, make headlines in the second half of a season as they all look to push their clubs for a top four finish.

While that happened during the latter part of the 2020-21 campaign, it was a less-fancied Kelechi Iheanacho that stole the show. Indeed, the Nigerian scored 12 league goals between January and May, the most of any player in the Premier League, some of them sublime and breath-taking, and it kept him being talked about week after week.

Iheanacho had been much of a peripheral figure at Leicester City before this moment, often struggling to make an impression while he was given an opportunity to play. It raised doubts over his qualities and abilities as a player but Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers always had faith in him and never considered selling him.

Iheanacho's moment of brilliance came largely as a result of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes suffering groin and knee injuries respectively. This kept them out for virtually the rest of the season.

Both men were the preferable choices in attack, but their absence gave Iheanacho a massive opportunity he took advantage of to good effect.

Both Maddison and Barnes are back to fitness, with both men featuring in Leicester's season opening 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend. Iheanacho started from the bench and came on for Barnes with 19 minutes left to play.

With Barnes and Maddison fit again, Vardy never showing signs of aging and the arrival of the mercurial Zambian forward Patson Daka from Red Bull Salzburg, it raises questions as to whether Iheanacho will be playing a prominent role once again. Coach Rodgers has however assured it will be happening.

“You have to stay clear of saying who is Number one and who is not. We will need all three of them when we play 50-plus games per season,” Rodgers said.

“All of them will start, all of them will be brought on over the course of the season. It is just great to have that availability and choice and all three will have a big impact for us this season.”

What Rodgers suggests here is that his squad is going to be heavily rotated and if that is the case, Iheanacho won't have the kind of impact he had last season.

Jamie Vardy still remains Leicester's number one forward even as he is among the oldest players in the team. Rodgers also favours using Maddison and Barnes, their combination giving the Foxes a lot of valuable results with their goals (24) and assists (14). Anyone who played the Fantasy Premier League last season will remember how the duo gave a lot of juicy points.

New signing Daka, who cost a reported £23 million, could also be more of a rotational option. This means the Zambian and Iheanacho might get more minutes in the Europa League and other cup games while it will be more off the bench moments in the Premier League except Barnes or Maddison gets injured again or there's a change in formation and tactics.

Regardless of how Iheanacho will be utilised, fans will want to see him deliver like last season which was not only liberating for them, but for the player as well. A continuation of such will see him highly rated and that hopefully remains the case going forward.