Despite scoring two well-taken goals as Leicester thrashed League One side Peterborough 5-1 in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday, Kelechi Iheanacho is seeking an exit from the King Power Stadium.
As reported by the Mirror in their live transfer blog (Saturday, 21:23), Iheanacho wants to leave the Foxes, where he has started just two Premier League games this season.
The newspaper claim that Newcastle United are showing interest in the 21-year-old Nigeria international, who was a £25million summer signing from Manchester City.
However, Tottenham Hotspur must be clever and make a swoop for the young hi man, who would be the perfect deputy to Harry Kane.
If you look at Iheanacho’s goals-to-game ratio, his goalscoring record is very impressive. He is something of a goal machine.
At Manchester City, he scored 21 goals in 64 appearances after breaking through from the club’s academy to become a regular appearance off the bench at the Etihad.
At new club Leicester he has netted five goals in 14 appearances, with all five coming in cup competitions.
However, you must look deeper than Iheanacho’s genuine goal threat.
With most of his appearances at City and Leicester coming from the bench, the 21-year-old has not actually accrued as many minutes as you would think.
So, if you convert his goal ratio to minutes on the field, you really see how extraordinary his goalscoring talent is.
According to Transfermarkt, Iheanacho has played 2,661 minutes of football in his senior career, scoring 26 goals.
That is an average of one goal every 102 minutes.
Spurs star Kane does not even possess such an impressive record, averaging a goal every 112 minutes in his career at the club.
For such a young player, who is relatively inexperienced at the top level, that is an incredible record.
And it is one that needs to be seized upon by Spurs, who are in need of an able second striker.
Fernando Llorente illustrated once again in Spurs’ dire draw with Newport that he is quite simply not up to the task, and Mauricio Pochettino must move to fix that.
Iheanacho will not come cheap, having cost Leicester £25million just seven months ago, but the club need to spend if they are to keep pace with their rivals in the Premier League.
With the winter window almost at a close, it may be a bit far-fetched to think that Spurs should move for him in the coming days, but a summer move would be perfect.
Llorente could be moved on after a failed season, and Iheanacho would be brought in as Spurs head into their new stadium at an exciting time in the club’s history.
At just 21, Iheanacho would come under the wing of Pochettino, who is known for his youth development, and that could make this move even more fruitful.
If Spurs want to continue their progress, they cannot rely on Kane forever, and Iheanacho is the man to come in and wipe away those fears.