Kelechi Iheanacho hopes to break into the Manchester City first team this season after providing an assist and scoring another in last Tuesday’s victory over Roma in Melbourne.
The Citizens opened scoring after Iheanacho sent debutant, Raheem Sterling, through on goal with a well-placed pass in the third minute before he scored in the 51st minute when Ashley Cole misplaced a back pass.
However, Miralem Pjanic and Adem Ljajic both scored either side of the City goals to end the game 2-2 before the former English champions won 5-4 on penalties.
Speaking on his hopes for the new 2015-16 season, Iheanacho insisted he is in a good position to finally make his senior team debut.
“I hope to play because I’ve been training hard, working hard with them during the pre-season. So I hope to break into the first-team,” he said.
The 18-year-old was also full of praise for his teammate who just made a big money move to City.
“(Sterling is) a very good player and I feel very honoured playing with him. He’s a very good player, intelligent and skilful and quite strong,” Iheanacho offered.
City coach, Manuel Pelegrini, also had nice words about the impact of the Nigerian forward, one of two young players who started the game.
“I think the big positive from this game was to play two very young players in Kelechi Iheanacho and Manu Garcia. I thought they both had a very good performance today,” Pelegrini said.