Celtic coach Wilfried Nancy provides Iheanacho injury update

Celtic head coach Wilfried Nancy has given a timeline on when Nigeria forward Kelechi Iheanacho could return for the Scottish Premiership club.

The Super Eagle has been sidelined since suffering a hamstring injury in October’s Europa League clash with Sturm Graz. But the 29-year-old is already back in full training and was an unused sub in Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat to Hearts.

Giving an update on the former Manchester City and Leicester forward, Nancy said as quoted by Daily Record: “He has trained well. After that, he needs minutes. It has been a long time, two months since he really played.

Iheanacho misses out on Nigeria AFCON squad

“The way we work the players who have not played regularly we try to get them through physical work to get back into the rhythm.

“For the moment obviously he is not fit to play a lot of minutes but a few minutes, yes. I have to understand that also in the past they did not rotate much. So I have done my work on that. I believe we have the players to do that but it has to be step by step.”

Before he picked the injury, Iheanacho had managed to score two league goals, and one Europa League goal from three matches. His recovery process has seen Nigeria coach Eric Chelle omit him from the squad that will feature at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco.

The Super Eagles, runners-up at the last AFCON, will open their Group C campaign on December 23 against Tanzania, before facing Tunisia and Uganda as they aim to secure early qualification for the knockout rounds.