Arsenal have Alex Iwobi, and Manchester City look set to have a similar option within their own ranks after rave reviews.

Kelechi Iheanacho who is still only 19, has broken into the first-team in recent months with seven goals in five starts for Man City and can progress even further under the guidance of incoming boss Pep Guardiola.

Fortunately for the young talent at the Etihad, Guardiola has a reputation for taking youngsters under his wing and developing their talent.

The Nigeria striker's breakthrough in his first Premier League season has seen him rack up a better goal-per-games ratio than any other striker in the league. Iheanacho only made his first appearance for the club in August and his five Premier League starts come alongside 19 appearances off the bench for a total of 610 minutes.

Iheanacho's scoring ratio is exceptional in comparison with his older, more experienced professionals. He has a further six goals in the domestic cup competitions, including his first-ever hat trick in the 4-0 FA Cup fourth round victory over Aston Villa in January. That makes his strike record an impressive one goal every 82 minutes.

Such has been the youngster's emergence that Manuel Pellegrini had to readjust his Champions League squad in January to squeeze in the teenager, with Samir Nasri dropping out after a long-term injury. While he is yet to make his first start in Europe, it will have been a big boost to Iheanacho that Pellegrini opted to bring him on early in last Tuesday's first leg 0-0 draw with Real Madrid after David Silva limped off in the first half with an injury.

The Nigerian seems to be further up the pecking order than even the likes of Wilfried Bony. The Ivorian has not scored in 2016, and his four Premier League goals this season have come at a rate of one every 303 minutes.

Pellegrini revealed in January that he allowed strikers Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko to leave the club in the summer to allow room for Iheanacho. "I see him working every day so I know what he can do during the game," he said. "Maybe I received some criticism for why we didn't replace Dzeko and Jovetic at the beginning of the season and I answered that we have Kelechi."

With the Champions League semi-final return leg at the Bernabeu tonight, Iheanacho is unlikely to start, but says that it's a dream come true to go there: "It is a dream come true for me and I am happy if I go there."

Pellegrini now appears to have an option from the bench with the youngster and someone to back up star striker Sergio Aguero. After the two goals at the weekend against Southampton, on an otherwise dismal afternoon for City, his emergence as a real talent was cemented in the minds of the current and incoming bosses.

Guardiola will be tasked with bringing through City's own talent from the £200m Etihad Campus, as the mega spending starts to slow down to allow the academy players to integrate with established first-team players and thus create the stars of the future.

With Guardiola's ability to find the gems and bring them on, at the Camp Nou, he gave debuts to 15 youth team players in four years.

Iheanacho has been the only youth player to have been given a consistent opportunity in Pellegrini's three years at the club and is surely set to be a huge part of Guardiola's plans.

It seems as though the forward line is the least of the new managers problems next season.

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