and Red Star Belgrade.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Kelechi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_JS382237983.jpg\")
Kelechi Iheanacho scores<\/p>\n
And the ex-Man City prodigy knows Rodgers can get the best out of him as he looks to silence his critics.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI\u2019ve always believed in myself and I believe in my quality and what I can do.<\/p>\n
“It’s just to get the opportunity to show what I can do or what I can bring.<\/p>\n
“I just believed in myself right from when I started playing.<\/p>\n
“If the opportunity comes, I know I’m going to do well.<\/p>\n
“But this time now, it came with someone that I know really well and someone that knows me really well.<\/p>\n
“So I’m happy doing this under him.<\/p>\n
“The manager knows me and I’ve worked with him quite a bit.<\/p>\n
“He’s a brilliant manager and the way he manages players, he’s top-notch.<\/p>\n
“I think he does it quite well and I’m happy to be working with him again. I’m really excited.”<\/p>\n
Rodgers isn\u2019t the only familiar face Iheanacho knows from his time in England.<\/p>\n
The Nigerian also played with Kasper Schmeichel at Leicester – and caught his old pal on the hop by rocking up to Glasgow.<\/p>\n
Iheanacho smiled: \u201cHe was surprised to obviously see me.<\/p>\n
“I’d sat with him in the dressing room in Leicester for years and here again, I’m sitting with him again.<\/p>\n
“He’s saying he can’t get rid of this guy! Kasper is a good lad so I’m happy to see him again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his limited action over the last 12 months, Iheanacho has been able to hit the ground running at Celtic thanks to his hard graft over the summer.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWhen you’re not playing so much, you just need to try to keep the same level, try to be up there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you’re not doing that, you wouldn’t be close to the people that are already playing games and all that. You’d be miles off it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you just need to work more, work on your own if you’re not playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry to get fitness and everything, just to be close in case you have the opportunity to come back and all that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you’re not too far off from where everyone is.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Celtic's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_JS382238329.jpg\")
Celtic’s Kelechi Iheanacho celebrates in front of fans<\/p>\n
Iheanacho marked a dream debut for the champions by climbing off the bench to rattle a dramatic penalty winner at Rugby Park.<\/p>\n
He followed that up with another super-sub showing against Red Star, breaking the deadlock with a clinical finish as Celts emerged from their Europa League opener with a point.<\/p>\n
Many fans viewed his after-deadline arrival as a desperation signing but Rodgers didn\u2019t hesitate snapping him up.<\/p>\n
And the Hoops gaffer is adamant he\u2019ll score a barrel load of goals in green and white after his heroics in Serbia.<\/p>\n
Rodgers said: \u201cHe’s only going to get better. That’s because I know the player and I know how good he can be and how good he was for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m delighted for him. Obviously when he came in, I think just because of the timing probably of his arrival and everything that surrounded our window, it maybe wasn’t so accepting for him to be in.<\/p>\n
“But there’s absolutely no doubt of all the players on the list that came to me that actually were available, he was absolutely the standout player.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know his talent and I know how big a player he can be and now he’s starting to settle into this squad and the group. He’ll show that during his time here.”<\/p>\n
Celtic fans have already taken Iheanacho to their hearts, chanting his name in the away end of Belgrade.<\/p>\n
That was music to the ears of Rodgers who laughed: \u201cIt’s a really big one, that one!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Celtic support will love him. Come the end of the season, they’ll be won over by his humility, his hard work and his quality on the field because he’s a goal scorer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will get goals, all different types of goals and he’ll give everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I\u2019m really pleased for him. He\u2019s a wonderful finisher.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could have maybe had another one, but he’s like that in every game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looks like he’s always going to score.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nigerian has hit the ground running at Parkhead following his arrival after deadline dayBrendan Rodgers and Kelechi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[2352,2628,1811,94,136282,16924,1638,7081,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-454288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-brendan-rodgers","9":"tag-celtic-fc","10":"tag-europa-league","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-kelechi-iheanacho","13":"tag-leicester-city-fc","14":"tag-scottish-premiership","15":"tag-scottish-professional-football-league","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115273956835012156","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Brendan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758940872_312_0_Celtic-FC-Media-Access.jpg\")
Brendan Rodgers and Kelechi Iheanacho(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n