Celtic star names what Hoops must achieve before new contract negotiations amid Dundee heroics
The Celtic forward ended his Premiership goal drought with the winner at Dens Park
Kelechi Iheanacho was delighted to be back amongst the goals in Celtic’s 2-1 win over Dundee on Sunday - but isn’t thinking about a new Hoops contract until the the end of the season.
After Simon Murray’s penalty cancelled out Yang Hyun-jun’s opener, the Nigerian came on for Tomas Cvancara, and his late strike to win it means Celtic are now back within touching distance of Hearts and Rangers in the title race. It’s been a season of ups and downs for the 29-year old, who has struggled with injuries since signing as a free agent in September. The Tayside winner may have been his first goal since October, however it continued his impressive healthy knack of scoring in the big moments.
After notching impressive number at his previous clubs Manchester City and Leicester City, Iheanacho has a proven track record of knowing where the goal is and being a fox in the box. Despite this, the striker’s Parkhead contract is set to expire at the end of the season, although the club will have an option to extend it for another year.
Iheanacho focused on ‘achieving goals’ before contract talks
Speaking after the win at Dens Park, when asked about his longer term future at the club and any potential new contract negotiations, Iheanacho responded: “I think in terms of that, we’re literally focusing now on the games going forward. Anything that concerns the contract will be maybe after the season, after we achieve our goals.”
The striker’s immediate concern for the time being his getting himself back into Martin O’Neill’s starting XI, claiming after his difficulties with injuries that he’s now ready to be part of the title race run-in. He continued: “Yeah, obviously when you’re injured as a player it’s really difficult. Sometimes you could put your head down and all that.
“Obviously, you support your team, but it’s really sad sometimes not getting on the pitch, contributing to the club that signed you. So it’s really sad sometimes. But you just need to keep going and work hard to get your rehab done and get ready to come back stronger to help the team. I’m sure I’m fit to start games, but obviously it’s up to the manager to pick who he wants to start the games. But I’m really sure I’m perfectly okay to start games.”
Iheanacho on ‘massive’ Dundee win
The City of Discovery hadn’t been a happy hunting ground for Celtic during this campaign, having lost their three previous meetings but Iheanacho thinks they were deserved victors at Dens Park and should’ve had the match wrapped up sooner. He added: “I think especially in the first half we blew them away. We had a few chances to put away but unfortunately it didn’t click.
"Second half, they come back in the game and score the pen. But in the end, we got the points which is massive. It feels good to contribute to the team. We've been working really hard. Obviously it's not been great for the past few weeks but I think we showed character, discipline and togetherness to win the game. So it's important. It was really massive for the team, where we are in the table, close to the top, so it’s massive.
"It would have been scary to drop points because it would have been hard for the rest of the season. It was a great finish so I’m happy. It’s massive, we need to keep winning to get to the end. It feels really good, especially an important game. So I'm happy to help the team to get there. And obviously I'm happy that the fans are really happy going back to Glasgow. So it's really, really good to help the team to do that.”