I COULDN’T AFFORD 20p TO WATCH FOOTBALL
Manchester City’s rising star Kelechi Iheanacho reveals...
WEEKENDS in Nigeria often follow a pattern. Hundreds of men, women and children crowd around televisions desperately trying to catch a glimpse of English football.
In one part of the country in particular, locals will be out in force tomorrow for Manchester City’s FA Cup fifthround tie at Chelsea and the chance to watch one of their own — City striker Kelechi Iheanacho.
Despite being 4,500 miles away from Stamford Bridge, these devoted fans in Imo, the Nigerian state where the 19-year-old was born, will pay 50 naira — about 20p — to squeeze around a TV in the hope of seeing him. They are the lucky ones.
As a child, Iheanacho was not so lucky and in his first major newspaper interview since bursting on to the scene this season, he reveals the hardship he felt as a youngster. Brought up in a poor area, he was one of the worse-off kids and could rarely afford even 20p to watch football.
‘We didn’t have the money,’ he says. ‘Maybe after the game I’d hear the scores and all that. I’d be at home playing football and my friends would come back after being there to tell me. We didn’t have a television at home.’
Iheanacho is quiet at first, not entirely comfortable with opening up about his childhood, his knees twitching as he explains that his family would use what little money they had on bread rather than luxuries like television. He is a far cry from the nerveless striker whose calm finishing belies his teenage years.
Iheanacho scored at Norwich in the FA Cup third round before a hat-trick against Aston Villa in the fourth. City’s squad signed his match ball and could be heard singing his name inside unexpectedly refused to sign a the away dressing room while their striker last summer because there shy star performed media duties was an academy lad capable of outside. stepping up without the need to
With nine goals already under his gain experience by going on loan. belt in an excellent debut year, he is Early in his career Iheanacho had ready to lead the line for City at been due to sign for Porto but he Stamford Bridge but has no recolturned his back on the Portuguese lection of ever seeing an FA Cup tie club when City came knocking two back home. years ago. His father James per
‘Sometimes I watched the Spansuaded him to move to the ‘ very ish league — it was a bit cheaper, cold’ north west of England. maybe 30 naira,’ he adds. ‘But the City paid Nigeria’s Taye AcadPremier League was 50. Sometimes emy £350,000 after scouts were I’d watch the Premier League if I impressed with the striker at found the money, or I’d go there the Under 17 World Cup in the and beg them to let me in. Or sneak United Arab Emirates. He in for the second half and pay half was named player of the the money. tournament.
‘I support Barcelona because I Then came a short watched the Spanish league. I saw stint at MLS side Yaya Toure playing for Barcelona Columbus Crew in and now I’m playing with him. It’s a 2014 before Peldream come true. I have to be my legrini put him on own man but he is a big influence in the bench at West Africa. He has done a lot in Africa Bromwich Albion and I hope to do that as well.’ on the opening
Toure, along with fellow Ivorian weekend this Wilfried Bony, took Iheanacho season. He has not looked ( right) under his wing when back since. City manager Manuel Pellegrini ‘ I wasn’t expecting that,’ says Iheanacho. ‘I was working with the Elite Development Squad. He said I was going with them to Australia in pre- season and after we came back I was in the first team. I was a bit surprised.
‘You feel a bit nervous, these are great players. It’s important to listen. I’m happy playing with them now and they give me confidence to play, they encourage me a lot.
‘That doesn’t mean I’ll disrespect them or feel I’m one of them now. I wouldn’t just do anything I liked — I’ve got to keep my head down, keep working hard.’ Iheanacho admits finding that drive did not come easily at school, even though his mother, Mercy, was a teacher.
She died in 2013, a few months before his life- changing Under 17 World Cup, and her memory serves as a constant source of determination. ‘It was hard for us when my mother left us,’ reflects Iheanacho, suddenly holding back tears. ‘We couldn’t do anything so I said to myself “move on and keep working hard”.
‘She makes me work harder. When I’m not doing something right, or when I’m not playing or working hard enough, then I remember her. She pushed me to work hard.
‘There are jobs back home but football has always been with me. When I was growing up they didn’t want me to do it because my mother was a teacher — they wanted me to go to school. But I love football and wanted to play — they wanted to stop me but they couldn’t.
‘They wouldn’t allow me to play out after school but I went out anyway. Maybe I lost a bit of focus on my studies.
‘It’s amazing when you go back home now, when you remember how you were before. You go back home and all those people are calling your name, shouting. I get mobbed by the kids. They want to see you, want to know you.’
Nigerian football legend Nwankwo Kanu certainly knows Iheanacho. The former Arsenal striker was at the Etihad campus after City’s defeat by Leicester earlier this month to spend half an hour with his country’s most exciting prospect.
Born in the same state, Kanu often travelled back to Africa during his playing days to coach the Taye Academy team and he feels an attachment to the prodigy.
Back then, Iheanacho tried to imitate Kanu as he kicked a football against the walls of buildings where the matches were screened.
Now there are plenty of children in Nigeria pretending to be Manchester City’s No 72.
“It’s a dream to play in the same team as Yaya”