Kelechi Iheanacho shows what Celtic missed out on by smashing Turkish scoring record

The further this season goes on, the more Celtic fans discover what the board allowed to slip through their fingers when it comes to Kelechi Iheanacho.

Yesterday, the Scottish Sun reported that he has netted for the 11th league game in a row.

That is the best scoring run in the entire history of Turkish football.

Let that sink in for a moment.

He has 15 goals in that spell, and if you count the goal he scored for Nigeria in the 3-3 draw with Russia, it’s 12 games on the spin.

And all of it is happening in a shirt that isn’t ours.

Last season, we all discussed what a fully fit Kelechi Iheanacho could do for Celtic.

I lost count of the number of times we talked about it on the Trinity Tims podcast.

Every time, the conclusion was the same.

Get the man fit and he is a real difference maker.

Now, he was a big part of how we snatched the title in the dying moments last season, so nobody needs to be told what he can do.

Well, we’re getting to see it in spades this season, except of course, it isn’t at Celtic, is it?

He did it at Bursaspor, in the Turkish second tier.

I’ll say that again, in case you missed it – the second tier.

We had him in the building, the manager wanted him and the player wanted to stay.

That is the part that really gets me.

This wasn’t a case of a player with one foot out of the door.

Iheanacho wanted to stay at Celtic.

The manager wanted him to stay at Celtic.

And he still walked out of the door, because the board, or Dermot Desmond, or whoever is really pulling the strings these days, didn’t want to pay him what he was worth.

Here is what he said after breaking the record, as reported by the Scottish Sun:

“I wasn’t aware I was breaking records, but keep getting told about it.”

“I am happy and proud of what I have done to have broken such a record in Turkish football. It has not been easy and has been very difficult.”

“I will continue to enjoy the moment and try to help the club win the league.”

Good for him.

I mean that.

He deserves every bit of it, and it takes a bit of character to produce this after the way the Celtic board dealt with him.

We were too tight to pay him £22k a week, and then the board told everybody a different story.

So what was he worth?

By all accounts, his wages demand was a paltry £22k per week.

Twenty-two grand.

That’s the figure that sent him packing from a club that was supposedly ready to win the league again.

And Bursaspor were happy to give him that.

Instead, we were told he was demanding £50k per week.

Celtic couldn’t possibly match that, could they?

The story put out was that he wanted silly money, and we simply couldn’t afford to keep him.

Make of that what you will.

I’ll be fair, I can’t prove what was said behind closed doors.

But I know what I was told, and I know what the support was told.

And those two things don’t match.

Which is how it always goes at our club when a player the fans want is allowed to leave on the cheap.

Somebody, somewhere, has to be painted as greedy.

It’s never the people holding the purse strings.

Celtic haven’t been short of goals, but there is a difference between goals and a striker in the form of his life.

Then again, I know what the apologists will say.

It’s only the Turkish second tier, so it doesn’t count.

And I’ll grant them this much – it isn’t the Premiership, and nobody is pretending 15 goals in 11 games over there would translate one for one at Celtic Park.

But that argument only goes so far.

We’ve scored plenty this season.

Iheanacho isn’t some kid we are guessing about either, he has done it at the highest level, in front of our own eyes.

Asked about his future, he says he’ll only talk about the present.

Fair enough.

But the fact that we are even wondering where he goes next tells you everything.

Make no mistake, losing him was a choice, not an accident.

But there is a difference between having goals and having a striker who is in the form of his life.

A fully fit Iheanacho would have given us something extra at the top end of the pitch.

Another option.

And another threat.

Another man who can win a game from nothing when the plan isn’t working.

And in a season when every point matters, we could have used all of that.

Instead, we’re watching the highlights from Turkey on social media.

That’s the reality of how this club does its business.

Never mind what the manager wants.

Never mind what the support wants.

If the numbers don’t fit the spreadsheet, the player goes.

It’s the same thread running through every decision they make.

A squad with holes in it and the one proven match-winner we could have kept is banging them in for fun somewhere else.

What Iheanacho is producing out in Turkey is what you call karma.

Just another in a long line of inexplicable decisions from our wonderful, world class board.

Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?

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