Kelechi Iheanacho will not play in Leicester City’s Europa League clash at Legia Warsaw, after being turned away by Polish border control.
The striker was due to start against the Polish champions on Thursday in City’s first away tie in Europe this season, but was barred from entering the country due to incorrect documentation.
He travelled with the rest of the squad on a chartered flight, but as his documents did not tally with his passport, he was not let past border control.
He was forced to stay at Warsaw Chopin Airport, while the rest of the squad travelled into the city to prepare for the game, and, as of Wednesday night, was waiting for a flight back to the UK.
It was deemed too difficult to fly him back to the UK to fetch the right documents and then take him back to Warsaw, and so he will miss out on the Group C game. He is in the company of a club official, who will join him on the flight back.
Manager Brendan Rodgers said at his press conference: “We’ve had an issue with Kelechi, so his documentation coming into the country wasn’t suffice, so unfortunately he isn’t able to play. It’s a shame because he would have played in the game. He will be unavailable.
“The paperwork, his documentation, didn’t allow him to enter the country. It’s unfortunate. We’ll have to look at that when we get back.”
With Iheanacho faced with such situation, Leicester are expected to review their processes to ensure it does not occur again. They face Spartak Moscow in Russia later this month, before travelling to Italy in December to take on Napoli.
Iheanacho scored twice for Nigeria in their World Cup qualifier against Liberia earlier this month, but then did not play in their next match against Cape Verde Islands, which is on the United Kingdom’s red list. The forward’s documentation problem is not thought to be related to Covid-19.
Meanwhile, the former Manchester City prodigy has been named by Coach Gernot Rohr in 23-man squad to face Central Africa Republic, CAR in a 2022 World Cup qualifying double header.
