Kelechi Iheanacho has sealed a move as a free agent to Spanish side Sevilla, marking the beginning of a new chapter in his career, following the end of a modestly successful seven year-stay at Leicester City.
In his time at the King Power Stadium, he racked up over 200 appearances and was directly involved in nearly a century of goals.
The Nigeria international departs the East Midlands with some very fond memories, the five most outstanding of which we reminisce on below.
Kelechi Iheanacho's first Leicester league goal
It took a while for Kelechi Iheanacho to get going in a Leicester shirt, having had to wait until March 2018 to score his first Premier League goal for the club (he already had five strikes in cup games).
It came against West Brom at the Hawthorns, where Iheanacho came off the bench after an hour at a time his team were being held. His strike, and an assist for Riyad Mahrez, swung the game in the Foxes’ favour, and they ended up 4-1 winners.
Hat-trick against Sheffield United
Kelechi Iheanacho was in fine form when Sheffield United visited Leicester in March 2021. He had netted thrice in his last five Premier League appearances, but, even so, few would have seen his first — and, thus far, only — career top-flight hat-trick coming.
But Iheanacho got it anyway, starring in a ruthless demolition of Sheffield in which Ayoze Perez was Leicester’s only other scorer. An Ethan Ampadu own goal sealed a 5-0 defeat for the hapless, blunt Blades.
Historic FA Cup scoring streak
The 2020/21 season saw the Foxes reach a first FA Cup final in 52 years, and Kelechi Iheanacho had a great deal to do with it.
He did not score in the first two rounds — against lower-tier Stoke City and Brentford — but as Leicester advanced and came up against elite opposition, Iheanacho stepped up and almost made it his personal mission to take his team all the way.
He scored the only goals in the fifth-round and semi-final victories over Brighton and Southampton, respectively, and, between those, got two goals and an assist as Leicester brushed aside the might of Manchester United.
That brace saw him overtake Ivory Coast and Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba as the top-scoring African in FA Cup history, with Iheanacho ending his time in the competition with 18 goals overall — no active footballer has more.
Community Shield winner
Kelechi Iheanacho may not have scored in the FA Cup final itself — teammate Youri Tielemans did the honours on that occasion — but he did come up clutch again the next time Leicester competed for silverware, in the following season's Community Shield, against the only other English club he ever played for, Manchester City.
Only thrown on in the 78th minute, Iheanacho managed to find the time and space to win a late penalty, which he duly fired into the top corner.
Out of respect for his former club, Iheanacho chose not to celebrate that winning goal — but he was certainly a big part of his team's post-match jubilation.
Etihad masterclass
Later that year, in a Boxing Day classic, Kelechi Iheanacho would have another memorable outing — this time in a purely personal sense — against Manchester City.
Leicester were down 4-0 with the game just 25 minutes old, and it looked like their hosts would have them absolutely battered by full-time.
Iheanacho would, however, inspire what, for a while, seemed like a simmering comeback, creating two goals and scoring one himself to set up a tense final half-hour.
The Citizens netted twice to put the result beyond all doubt, but Iheanacho left his former home with his head held high and lots of credit in the bag.
