With 2 Delicious Goals for Celtic, Is Kelechi Iheanacho Ripe Enough for Super Eagles Recall?

Forgotten Super Eagles centre forward Kelechi Iheanacho romanced the back of the net for Celtic last weekend with two delicious goals in a Cup competition semi final.

So, should he be considered for a recall to the Super Eagles ahead of the Unity Cup in London in May?

Me? I am a sucker for Iheanacho's methods as a striker. I actually am of the view that we can still get one, just one good year out of Kelechi Iheanacho (if he is fit).

Victor Osihmen, Taiwo Awoniyi and Kelechi Iheanacho inhabit the same ballpark agewise. So, so long as Victor Osihmen remains relevant to the national team, so long as Taiwo Awoniyi remains relevant to call-up consideration, Iheanacho will remain firmly wedged in the conversation - if he stays fit.

Kelechi Iheanacho is his own worst enemy.

He reminds me of Brazilian legend Ronaldinho Gaúcho: supremely gifted, yet abjectly lazy players who believe that talent alone will take them to the height of greatness - fools. Messi, Ronaldo, Olivier Giroud and Zlatan Ibrahimovic proved that talent with hard work and relentless devotion will not only bring greatness and success, it will also extend your career well beyond your sell-by date. If possible, some of these legends would play into their 50s.

It is not too late for my Kelechi Iheanacho to turn things around. If he works hard, stays focused, and keeps concentration, I think he could be a star player for Nigeria at next year's Afcon.

I tend to agree that a fit-and-firing Iheanacho is a better option to Osihmen up-front in-lieu of Akor Adams. Adams is a great guy, a team player, a reliable player who goes about his job with the highest level of professionalism seen in the Super Eagles in modern times.

But a boiling hot Iheanacho is a beast of no nation! No nation playing against the Super Eagles would be able to contain his trickery, his directness, his unpredictability on the ball. He is able to hoodwink opposition defenders with silky leg movements to go into opposition 18-yard boxes, whence he wreaks havoc.

A lot of people will laugh at my adulation of Iheanacho above, calling me a deluded old man living in the past glory of a player that has lost his way, a player that has lost his mojo, a player that has lost his magic.

And to be honest, I won't blame them for, indeed, the Iheanacho we see today is a pitiful shadow of his once great self; a relic of a bygone era where he played high echelon football.

But I fail to give up on Iheanacho; I am a sucker for the image and potentials I hold in my head for him, potentials I firmly believe he can still actualise if he changes his mentality, changes his ways, changes his attitude. After all, in the words of Dr Alban: "it's my life!" or should I say: "it's his life!"