Do Celtic’s hopes of a strong finish to the season hinge on Kelechi Iheanacho being fit enough to start matches?
The former Manchester City striker has endured an injury-disrupted debut campaign in Scotland, starting just eight games in 18 appearances since his arrival in September.
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The 29-year-old has shown he can make an impact off the bench, scoring a double in extra time of Celtic’s 6-3 Scottish Cup semi-final win over St Mirren on Sunday after netting the late winner in a tense league victory at Dundee earlier this month.
Those goals took Iheanacho’s tally for the season to six in all competitions, which have come from just 746 minutes of football.
That means the forward averages a goal every 124 minutes – an impressive statistic, but now Martin O’Neill needs to find a way of getting him into starting line-ups.
Celtic’s season will conclude with a Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline, but they remain in the hunt for the Premiership title and start their post-split schedule with a visit from Falkirk on Saturday.
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“You do worry about the reoccurrence of the injuries with Iheanacho, we’ve had a few of those this season,” Celtic podcaster Paul John Dykes said on the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast.
“But if we can start him and get 60 minutes out of him, then perhaps games will be done and dusted by the time he needs to be replaced.
“Playing Daizen Maeda down the middle this season, it’s just not worked. The other options we’ve got through the middle are Junior Adamu and Tomas Cvancara, and Iheanacho is miles ahead of them in terms of quality.
“So I hope he does start the games. I’d love to see him starting the final six games.”
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