Iheanacho joined Sevilla last summer after his previous contract at Leicester City expired, and while the 28-year-old headed to La Liga as a free agent, he was offered an extremely lucrative contract in order to see off competing interest from other clubs.
He proved a major disappointment during his first six months as a Sevilla player, however, with only goals coming against lower-league opposition in the cup as he failed to find the net in his nine league outings.
Sevilla opted to send him out on loan in January, but his time with Middlesbrough has been no more successful, with his 13 Championship appearances having only seen him score once.
Sevilla’s sporting director, Victor Orta, signed off the deal that saw the Nigeria international head to Spain, but the backroom chief, who was Boro’s sporting director during the Aitor Karanka era, already concedes the transfer was a mistake.
“I want to clarify that the strikers were brought in as complements, to be practically the third striker, because there was a starter like Youssef (En-Nesyri) and a striker who later appeared, like Isaac (Romero),” said Orta, in an interview reported widely in the Spanish media.
“But it’s clear that betting on Kelechi this season has been a mistake, and we will analyse why we made it and we are doing so now.”
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Orta’s comments suggest Iheanacho does not have a long-term future with Sevilla, but whatever happens during the next few weeks on Teesside, it is extremely unlikely that Boro will be looking to sign him on a permanent basis this summer.
The loan deal that took Iheanacho to the Riverside did not contain a clause for a permanent summer transfer, with Boro’s recruitment team having been keen not to commit themselves to an expensive long-term deal in January.
That has proved a wise move, as even if Boro could afford Iheanacho’s wages, which they almost certainly couldn’t given they negotiated a loan deal with Sevilla that currently sees them paying less than half of his salary, the striker’s performances since joining hardly warrant a full-time transfer.
Boro head coach Michael Carrick will hope Iheanacho could yet play a pivotal role in helping his side secure a play-off place come the end of the regular season in two games’ time, but even if he does, there appears to be no prospect of him remaining on Teesside beyond the end of the current campaign.
