Afcon 2023: Leicester coach dismisses Peseiro’s claim that Iheanacho is fit

Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca has dismissed the claim by Super Eagles manager Jose Peseiro that Kelechi Iheanacho, who could not join his mates in their training tour of Abu Dhabi due to injury, will team up with the squad on Sunday.

“We have contact with all their medical staff and they told us that the players will be 100 percent in shape when they arrive to join us.

“Iheanacho has worked hard to recover and we have confidence that Leicester’s medical staff have done well for him. They have good materials and good equipment. They told us he will start training 100 percent when he arrives.”

But speaking to reporters at the pre-match press conference before his side’s Championship clash versus Coventry City, Maresca made it clear that Iheanacho is not fit to return to action.

Despite Peseiro claimed on two different occasions this week that the striker had gotten a clean bill of health from Leicester City’s medical team.

Iheanacho has been nursing an injury that has prevented him from being called up to the Leicester City squad since the 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town on Boxing Day.

It is now confirmed beyond doubt that the 27-year-old will sit out Nigeria’s opening match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations against Equatorial Guinea, assuming he is released to the Nigeria Football Federation by the Foxes.

Iheanacho was not spotted in any of the twenty-one training images published by Leicester City on Friday afternoon and will not be in the squad for the M69 derby at Coventry City.

In quotes relayed by Leicester City’s official webpage, Maresca said: “Kasey is back and Dennis is back. The only ones [out] are Jamie and Kel, still out, both of them.”

 Peseiro has been faced with an injury crisis in the lead-up to the Super Eagles Afcon opener, with Wilfred Ndidi, Victor Boniface and Sadiq Umar forced to withdraw from the squad due to injuries.