Guardiola wants me to be like Messi —Iheanacho

Kelechi Iheanacho is on the verge of becoming one of the world’s best forwards with Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola preparing him with video clips of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski.

Guardiola has kept faith in the 20-year-old Nigerian since joining the Citizens in August and has tipped him to become a prolific player if he can learn from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and the 2015-2016 Bundesliga topscorer.

Iheanacho, who is currently filling Aguero’s absence, has netted five times in 15 appearances this season and has admitted that he needs to keep watching their video clips and improve on the skills he is not working on.

“Of course he [Guardiola] tells me about them, that I should really watch them and see what they are doing and make sure I am improving on what I am not doing,” Iheanacho told Sunday Express.

“They are great strikers, big stars so you need to see how you can improve your game, to work in training.

“They both have great qualities and they have a lot of different abilities.

“It’s important of course that you be yourself, you are your own player, you have your own style but of course you need to see what they are doing too.

“I watch all of their games. They are great players and I need to watch them to improve. They have great qualities and you need to see what they are doing. Everyone’s quality is different but you have to take some things they are doing and put it in your game and work on it.”