Kelechi Iheanacho provides Pep Guardiola respite from Manchester City headache

As the Citizens continue to falter at home, the story of their campaign continues to be this precocious teenager with a wand of a left foot.

Pep. Guardiola and Ihenacho

Manchester City's meek surrender at Southampton, with its unmistakable late-season feel, had the hallmarks of a showing from a team listing in no particular direction.


Never mind that rivals Manchester United and, rather more menacingly, West Ham United are breathing down their necks in a bid for a final Champions League place; the Citizens were stagnant, and duly stank St Mary's out.

The interesting subplot in City's tailing off is of course the arrival of Pep Guardiola in the summer. The timing of the announcement, essentially rendering incumbent Manuel Pellegrini a sitting duck, has caused some uncertainty, and while it would be reductive to say this is responsible by itself, it has not helped a team having an inherently contradictory campaign: the target of jock-bullying by day/weekend, high-flying crusader by night/midweek.

The team selection was also reflective of this duality, as the Chilean made significant changes to the side that started against Real Madrid in midweek. No surprises then that it was Kelechi Iheanacho, who played an hour against the Spanish giants, that looked liveliest, managing to come out of the pile of dung smelling of roses.

His brace takes his tally for the season to 13, a number made even more astonishing when one considers it is from 17 shots on target in total. He also has the best minutes-per-goal ratio of any Premier League player with five goals or more, averaging one every 86.33 minutes. His efficiency is staggering, as is the inherent temperance to his game: there is no wasted motion, no lashing out hopefully; his finishes are measured, giving the opposing goalkeeper no chance.

Even with Sadio Mane plundering a hat-trick against a somnolent City defence, the rave reviews came pouring in for Iheanacho, with Sky pundit Graeme Souness effusive in his praise for this "19-year-old boy, the one player who wanted the ball, who put his foot in." There have limited opportunities for the Nigeria international, understandably so in his debut season in the top-flight, but his displays have displayed a determination to seize the moment.

For his first at St Mary's, he rose seraphic in the box to head in as the ball bobbled loose, leaving Fraser Forster stranded. It temporarily offered a way back into the game for City, coming at the close of an opening period in which they deserved not even that much. His second, coming with the game already won by the Saints, was a beauty, as he curled home from the edge of the area.

Guardiola, famously obsessive and with the nut that is Atletico Madrid on his table, will surely be aware of happenings in the blue half of Manchester. His task is daunting: they may have great resources, but this is a City team in dire need of regeneration, and the gangrenous fetidity of their displays is no surprise given the poor squad-building that has burdened the team with players on the wrong side of their physical peaks.

In Iheanacho, he has the perfect counterpoint to the geriatric complacency that bedevils the Citizens, and the Nigerian continues to put his hand up, preening for the balding Catalan mastermind. Quite aside his obvious technique, which is remarkably clean, there is a canniness in finding space, being in the right place at the right time, that the Bayern Munich boss will find familiar.

For what is Iheanacho, if not a more technically gifted Thomas Muller? The gangling, somewhat awkward loping stride, the same sense that there is little going on before they both arrive with a decisive brush-stroke.

The German is considered unique enough to be dubbed 'raumdeuter' - space investigator - the patron saint of Teutonic football hipsters; provoking a swirl of rumours that he would relish a chance to continue working with Guardiola.

Iheanacho

He would no doubt exact a high price, one even City, with their abundant wealth, would balk at. Sheikh Mansour would be even more justified in refusal, I see your Muller and I raise you a Kelechi; the club's very own home-grown detective of exiguous real estate.
Younger, faster, better vision. Take that, raumdeuter!

If Manchester City's frigidity has Guardiola greying even faster, he can at least find some encouragement in the virility of young Iheanacho; only 19, but becoming quite the story in a forgettable season at the Etihad.