Celtic manager Martin O’Neill says Kelechi Iheanacho could feature against Aberdeen tonight, but the Super Eagles forward’s match fitness remains a major question mark after months out.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s Celtic nightmare shows no sign of ending. The Super Eagles forward will be put through a last-minute fitness assessment on Wednesday before Celtic decides whether to include him in their squad for tonight’s Scottish Premiership clash against Aberdeen at Celtic Park.
Celtic boss Martin O’Neill confirmed the update in his pre-match press conference, admitting that Iheanacho has the quality to contribute, but his physical condition remains a genuine concern. It’s a familiar sentence for Nigerian football fans who have spent the better part of five months hoping for good news on the 29-year-old.
– Martin O’Neill, Celtic Manager
A Season Defined by Stops and Starts
When Iheanacho signed for Celtic on September 2, 2025, it felt like the career reset he desperately needed. A reunion with Brendan Rodgers, the manager who got the best out of him at Leicester City, seemed perfectly timed. His debut summed up his potential: a stoppage-time penalty winner away to Kilmarnock on September 14, the kind of clutch moment that made him a fan favourite at the King Power Stadium.
Then his hamstring gave way. He suffered the injury during Celtic’s UEFA Europa League tie against Sturm Graz in October. He hasn’t started a league game since that month. A brief return in December ended quickly when he picked up another setback in the League Cup final against St Mirren on December 14. Since then, the striker who once held the Premier League’s best goals-per-minute record has been watching Celtic’s title race from the treatment table.
He made two brief substitute appearances in the final days of February, coming off the bench against Utrecht in the Europa League and then for Falkirk on March 1. O’Neill, who replaced Wilfried Nancy on the Celtic touchline, knows first-hand what Iheanacho can bring when fit. The manager saw enough in Celtic’s improved first-half display against Rangers at Ibrox to suggest the Hoops are building momentum at exactly the right time of the season.
What This Means for the Super Eagles
The timing of Iheanacho’s fitness struggles couldn’t be worse for Nigeria’s World Cup qualification campaign. Coach Eric Chelle included Iheanacho in a 39-man provisional list for the March 2025 qualifiers against Rwanda and Zimbabwe, a sign that the forward remains in the manager’s thinking. But when the final 23-man squad dropped, Iheanacho wasn’t in it.
He’s been absent from multiple Super Eagles squads since AFCON 2025. With Nigeria sitting third in CAF Group C with 11 points, the pressure on Chelle to find reliable forwards for the remaining qualifiers is mounting. Iheanacho’s experience, his ability to hold up play, and his record of scoring in big moments make him exactly the kind of player Chelle would want available. But you can’t build a national team around a player who can’t stay fit.
With Nigeria facing a World Cup playoff scenario and the Super Eagles needing wins in the remaining qualifiers, Iheanacho’s race against fitness has become a national conversation. His current Celtic market value sits at £3.2 million, a fraction of the £25 million Leicester paid for him in 2017 as the largest-ever Nigerian transfer fee at the time. That context makes his current situation genuinely painful to watch for anyone who followed his rise.
Analysis: Can Iheanacho Still Make an Impact?
O’Neill’s comments are cautiously optimistic, not a green light. “Full fitness” is the phrase the Celtic manager keeps returning to, and it’s telling. Iheanacho has the technique to contribute even when not 100%, as his substitute cameos have shown. But a player who has been in and out of two different training regimes in five months, under three different managers at the same club, is not someone you build a title run around.
For the Super Eagles, the calculus is different. Chelle doesn’t need Iheanacho to play 90 minutes every week. He needs him fit enough to come off the bench and change games, or start in matches where a more physical, hold-up striker suits the game plan. If Iheanacho can string together three or four consistent appearances between now and April, the door back into the national team remains open. Right now, it’s ajar at best.
Celtic’s title race also hangs in the balance. The Hoops have virtually no margin for error in the SPFL Premiership run-in. Having a fit, experienced striker in reserve could prove decisive in tight matches. O’Neill clearly wants him available. The question is whether Iheanacho’s body will cooperate.
The Path Back to the Eagles Runs Through Aberdeen
Tonight’s Aberdeen match is a chance for Iheanacho to do something he hasn’t managed since October: start a competitive football match. Even a substitute role would be progress. The striker is known for his ability to arrive in the penalty area at exactly the right moment, a trait that doesn’t require full sharpness to execute.
If you’re looking for where to track Iheanacho’s value for Nigeria heading into the final World Cup qualifier stretch, fixtures like this Celtic run-in are the barometer. Nigerians watching in Scotland tonight will be hoping O’Neill’s post-training assessment brings the answer they’ve been waiting for since October.
For those tracking the Super Eagles’ attacking options ahead of the crucial remaining qualifiers, Bet9ja’s seasonal bonus offers Nigerian football fans an opportunity to back their predictions on national team performances and the broader qualification race.
Celtic’s next run of fixtures will go a long way towards defining their season, and potentially Iheanacho’s Celtic future. The club holds an option for a second year. Whether they exercise could depend largely on the next eight weeks.
📌 Did You Know?
- Iheanacho’s £25 million move from Manchester City to Leicester City in 2017 was, at the time, the largest transfer fee ever paid for a Nigerian player and the second-largest for an African player in history, behind only Mohamed Salah’s move to Roma.
- He won the FIFA U-17 World Cup Golden Ball award in 2013, the same year Nigeria won the tournament in the UAE, becoming one of only a handful of African players to claim the award.
- Iheanacho was the first player in English football history to receive a goal directly as a result of a VAR decision, in a January 2018 FA Cup tie for Leicester against Fleetwood Town.
- He was Celtic’s third attempted striking signing of the 2025 summer window. The club missed out on Kasper Dolberg (pipped by Ajax) and David Datro Fofana (loan rejected) before turning to Iheanacho after his Sevilla contract was mutually terminated.
- Iheanacho has now worked under three different Celtic managers in less than one season: Brendan Rodgers, Wilfried Nancy, and now Martin O’Neill.
- His Celtic debut goal, a last-minute penalty winner against Kilmarnock on September 14, 2025, came just 12 days after he signed for the club, arriving over 24 hours after the official Scottish transfer window had closed.
- Nigeria currently sits third in CAF World Cup qualification Group C with 11 points, behind Benin Republic and South Africa, meaning the remaining qualifiers are effectively must-win for any realistic chance of reaching the 2026 tournament.
