Manchester City have been injury-hit for the vast majority of this season, and not just minor ones too. A torn medial cruciate ligament injury has sidelined Kevin de Bruyne till late March at the earliest, whilst Samir Nasri is expected at the same time, recovering from surgery.

So with the Citizens' favourable tie against Ukranian outfit Dynamo Kyiv, Pellegrini may look to unleash the young Nigerian on the Champions League stage. The revised A-list squad must be submitted to UEFA on Tuesday and following the Nigerian's form of late, it'll be hard to ignore. He's amassed a very respectable goal tally for a 19-year-old too at this point in the season - 19 appearances (most cameos), with eight goals and six assists to his name, a true mark of the quality he possesses at such a tender age.

Kelechi continues firing on all cylinders

Capping off a superb afternoon yesterday, Kelechi Iheanacho hit his first senior hat-trick for the sky Blues as they cruised to a 4-0 victory dispatching a limp Aston Villa in the FA Cup 4th Round, who are currently languishing at the bottom of the Premier League table. Taking all three goals like a striker who'd been at the top of his game for years, Iheanacho displayed such quality that manager Manuel Pellegrini will struggle to ignore. 

Whilst Aguero is in red-hot form, many supporters can't help but feel "when is the next injury going to hit and for how long?". There's no question that when fit, the Argentine will start but Iheanacho will look to impose himself even more in the City starting XI. With prior confirmation from the manager that City do not plan to make any signings before the window shuts, Iheanacho has an excellent opportunity to cement his place in the squad, for the seemingly impending arrival of Pep Guardiola.

So will we see Iheanacho in Manuel Pellegrini's squad list on Tuesday? Yes, without a doubt. This season he's exhibited the maturity, work ethic and quality of any senior player and is constantly improving at an impressive rate. As well as this, any exclusion from the revised Champions League squad list would be baffling; consequently leaving City very thin on the ground going forward. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author