Iheanacho’s imminent arrival threatens Slimani’s Leicester future

Record signing Islam Slimani’s future at Leicester City could be in doubt following the expected arrival of Manchester City striker, Kelechi Iheanacho to the King Power Stadium, reports Leicester City Mercury.

Leicester and Manchester City yesterday agreed on a fee for Iheanacho, who is reported to have already passed his medicals preparatory to moving to the former champions.

Algerian international Slimani cost City £30 million in a record-breaking move from Sporting Lisbon last summer but the 29-year-old scored only eight goals in 29 appearances for the club

Jamie Vardy is the undisputed main striker at City and boss Craig Shakespeare believes Iheanacho would be an ideal attacking partner, meaning Slimani, Shinji Okazaki and Leonardo Ulloa would slip down the pecking order.

According to the reports, City could be willing to off-load Slimani for a sizeable fee, while a loan move back to Sporting may not be ruled out. Leicester City had their offer of £25 million accepted by Manchester City for striker Iheanacho, according to Sky Sports.

According to Sky Sports, a deal in principle to bring the Nigerian international to the 2015/16 Premier League champions has been agreed. However, there are still contractual issues to sort out before Craig Shakespeare can show his major coup.

Leicester have beaten West Ham in the race to acquire his services, with the Hammers hopeful that former City star Pablo Zabaleta could persuade him to move to London.

Shakespeare believes Iheanacho will form a formidable partnership with Jamie Vardy upfront, with both forwards blessed with pace and deadly finishing.

The 2015/16 League Cup winner started just once in 2017 under the former Barcelona boss last season, with Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero preferred ahead of him. Still, he managed to bag seven goals in 29 games in all competitions – a decent return for a player who featured sporadically throughout the whole campaign.