Has Nigeria finally turned the corner?

Doh, completely forgot about Iwobi's injury. Also interested to see how Musa fares in the EPL.

 

At the moment I would say that their best player is still Mahrez until further notice. You have to remember that so much of what happened last year was built on chemistry and balance, so anyone brought on would have to be carefully blended into their system. They may want to bring him along slowly to make sure that he can contribute without disrupting that balance. Alot of commentators mentioned the issue of Leicester using their Champions League money but having to be careful when integrating said new buys. He's played well for them, but much of the rest of the team hasn't. It might be that there's an overcomplacency when he's on and they're trying to get that balance back. Or maybe he's hurt. They can't replicate last season on star performances, they need that back-to-front play to work again. So it really isnt about how many goals he scores if he somehow doesn't mesh with their system...

But I don't think that's what's happening. I think the rest of the team os a bit on a come-down from last season. He can be even better if the rest recall their form from last.

 

I figured as much. They certainly don't have anything to lose by giving Amartey a shot. Plus he's the youngest of the crop, so you get an opportunity to possibly have him grow with the club long-term (unless they eventually sell him too).

I do think that most Leicester fans knew that replacing Ngolo Kante's work rate in the middle of the pitch would be a tall ask for anyone and they had him at a bargain rate at the time. Still he was seemingly also the toughest player to keep since most publications had him as the likeliest of players to leave my even the Christmas break of last season. On pure footballing measures, Vardy would be the player you would let go of since he was always most likely to have been riding an aberration of form, however he was also the hardest player to let go of from a marketing standpoint. He's the most prominent English player on the team, he had the most compelling story (apart from the whole racist Thai prostitute orgy scandal, though it seems that the duo of Nigel/James Pearson fell on their swords over that whole thing and all is now forgotten there...) and he's now a member of the English National Team and his form held up with them for some time until the Euros for the most part. And then you're definitely not getting rid of Mahrez.

Initial thought (at least for me) would be that, with Champions League money, they should have been able to keep Vardy, Mahrez and Kante, until you consider that many thought that Kante would be hard to keep simply because Kante was going to get the most upside out of a move since his offers would be coming from much bigger clubs since players with his particular skill-set were much more specialized. Most big clubs have guys who can either poach goals or create in abundance (because they buy them all) and aren't likely to rely on a little known Algerian play-maker or a possible one-hit wonder from England. And then there's the factor that his upside also involved a major financial windfall on their relatively small investment there for him. I think they also figured that he'd be easier to replace under both footballing and marketing realms of concern. Finding creative attackers that work under their system like Mahrez is like finding gold.

As for Vardy, even if he over-performed last season, I feel that at least part of the impetus for buying Musa was to provide a bit of cover for Vardy and allow him more space in the attack should he revert to the expected form prior to last season. Unfortunately, there's the double aspect that you risk in that, rather than providing cover and enabling Vardy by adding another more long-term proven goalscorer, you simply ratchet up the pressure and push Vardy out of space thereby hastening his fall from last season's form. Ideally you'd like for Musa to be able to be Musa while also enabling Vardy to be better at the same time. But, as with all team sports that involve more than 6 players per team, you never know until you put the players on the field. Ultimately, Musa will start in the regular season. You don't throw out close to 20 million pounds on a striker in order to have him sit the bench, that's for sure.

 

Is Nigeria keeping tabs on this kid? He's come out of nowhere...





English-born, so he's eligible for England, but of Nigerian decent and only 18.

 

Good post. Iheanacho is 20. Drogba is my favorite player but noone knew who he was at 20. For all of his weaknesses, he is one thing that many African attackers are not... he's clinical and finishes chances. He's not getting a run with Pep because he plays off the ball more these days and Pep wants players who are more comfortable with the ball at their feet. He'd probably play Iwobi if the two switched clubs.

Pep has stated that he wants Iheanacho to play more like Messi if he wants to get time. I don't know how realistic that is, especially given the positions that he plays him in when he finally does put him on. But the one slight positive sign is that, despite his lack of time, Pep (or City) also doesn't seem interested in selling him or even loaning him out (though I'd prefer one of those options at this point, even with a lesser club, but mostly out of the Premier League. I'd felt that he'd regret not starting his career in Portugal with Sporting). Now this could be that they just don't have enough depth at striker and like to keep him around in reserve, but City isn't exactly averse these days to simply buying options. City has a history of not giving opportunities to their academy products of which Iheanacho is nominally one.

Most City fans on boards still want to see him get more time, if only to finally develop a young player who they do not have to pay to acquire and finally start building value through internal mechanisms. Iheanacho is the first test of this process and it hasn't been as successful in the wake of the new manager. Noone else has been called up and it doesn't look likely that Pep is considering it. One thing City fans are supportive of, given Iheanacho's current sitch, is loaning him out for the season.

And I don't get stating that Iheanacho's not a good passer, this is one of the strong points of his game. He's a great passer of the ball. His dribbling and first touch are his current issues. Not his passing.

 

I was never confident that Kelechi would work out with Pep and it was beginning to be backed up with the roles that Pep placed him in when he did finally decide to use him. He consistently plays him as a lone striker and then asks him to play more like Messi. If that isn't a conflicting message I don't know what is. But considering that, even last season, his first touch and dribbling were shaky at best, I felt that Guardiola would not be interested in developing him. Just not his type of player. He has strong tools. His passing and finishing are both very precise, but I've felt that once he left the EDS his belief in his dribbling faded and he needs to work on it. What I don't get, is why they won't loan or trade him. I think City wants to keep him and develop him but Pep doesn't want to use him. Iheanacho is caught in the middle. He needs to man up and demand a transfer in the summer. Only solution at this point unless Pep doesn't last until next year.

What I don't get is this; his best buddy is Alex Iwobi and Iwobi is JJ Okocha's nephew. He's grown up and around this sport and this league in particular. He can tell, if Iheanacho cannot, that this is a bad situation for his development. And he should be in his ear with a megaphone that he needs to get out while he can, even if only on loan with an option to purchase. But Iheanacho, and especially his family and reps (who all seem clueless outside of the astute point that he's being played out of position) show no indication that they're posturing for a a move outside of some vague rumors of suitors like Barca. But considering his workload at City, they need to be realistic and widen their net. Instead of trying to keep him at a big club, just get him to a place where he'll play. And especially stop having their sights set on the Premier League, this is one of the things that frustrates me to no end with Nigerian players.

I continue to hope that Rohr's influence might leave a legacy that opens up the Bundesliga to Nigerian players bc they would do well there and learn alot more about the technical aspects of the sport than they can in the EPL's "win at all costs" mentality. Rohr showed a great interest in getting Mikel to take a transfer away from Chelsea, though his move to China was probably not what he had in mind; I would like to see him do the same with Iheanacho. His apparent silence on this particular issue tells me that he either doesn't see this as an immediate issue, or he doesn't see it as an immediate possibility. Taking the latter as true, then he may begin to push for Iheanacho to push for a move in the summer and hopefully use some of his contacts in Germany to make that happen. I would love to see Iheanacho get a move that takes him out of the EPL.

Granted, his new contract may complicate his transfer options. I kinda wish his handlers had placed his development ahead of his monetary considerations. But I could be wrong on all fronts and what I speculated in my previous post could be true; Guardiola himself might have no interest in trading or loaning Iheanacho and has convinced Iheanacho, his family and management that he does have plans to groom him. But not playing him at all doesn't seem like how you groom a player and subsequently not loaning him while piling the depth chart in front of him is confusing at best. It's a puzzling situation if it's not the club's influence that's keeping Pep from loaning or transferring Iheanacho.