Guardiola wants me to play like Messi - Iheanacho

Pep Guardiola has ordered Super Eagles forward Kelechi Iheanacho to study Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski in his bid to displace Sergio Aguero at Manchester City.



The Nigerian international has been a peripheral figure under Guardiola so far – and is set to face further competition up front when Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus arrives in January. There are hopes at City that the 20-year-old will develop into a world class forward under Guardiola’s tutelage.

But he has only been handed limited opportunities this season – with Guardiola even opting to play Nolito, Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne as makeshift strikers ahead of him. Guardiola worked with both Messi and Lewandowski at Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively – and he’s told Iheanacho to learn from the pair. “Of course he 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 Soccernet.

“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.”