Just days after scoring the goal that sealed Celtic's domestic double against Dunfermline Athletic, Kelechi Iheanacho already began preparations for the new season.
The striker travelled south for a one-on-one training session in Manchester, seeking to improve on his seemingly deficient fitness levels.
Not since signing for Celtic last September has Iheanacho completed 90 minutes. In fact, you have to go back 447 days to find the last time he did so.
The 29-year-old's time in Glasgow thus far has been permeated with fitness bouts. That said, his first season north of the border ended in iconic fashion.
As the stakes rose and pressure grew, Iheanacho gained cult hero status among the Celtic support. From April 5 onwards, he scored six goals in nine substitute appearances, including winners away against Dundee, Hibernian, and Motherwell.
Central to Celtic's late-season surge, the centre-forward played like a man possessed.
That Brendan Rodgers brought Iheanacho to Scotland weeks before resigning as manager amid an unforeseen fallout wth Celtic's hierarchy over recruitment and ambition holds great irony. The Northern Irishman could not have left a greater parting gift.
Iheanacho signed shortly after last summer's transfer deadline. He agreed a one-year contract, with Celtic holding the option to extend it by a further 12 months.
Iheanacho wants it
There is a lot to be said for a footballer who wants to be where they are. After winning the Scottish Cup on May 23, his goal sealing a 3-1 win over Dunfermline in the final, Iheanacho nailed his colours to the mast.
"I love the supporters, I love them all," he told club media. "Everyone in the streets of Glasgow, people recognise me. I am happy. The whole of Glasgow is a great city.
"Hopefully, I will be here next season. I am really happy to wear a Celtic shirt and to play for them with all my heart."
On the morning of that cup final against Neil Lennon 's Pars, Iheanacho stopped then-interim manager Martin O'Neill in the hotel lift and asked if, firstly, he would be given another year with Celtic, and secondly, whether O'Neill would be sticking around too.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Iheanacho's burning desire shone through. He loved geeing up the crowd, and after each run-in victory, he posted on Instagram, urging supporters to 'stay with us'.
Iheanacho has always maintained to O'Neill that his fitness was adequate to regularly start matches. Celtic's sports science team respectfully disagreed, hence his super-sub role.
Clearly, Iheanacho knows deep down that he must improve. After winning the title against Hearts on Saturday, May 16, the Celtic players were granted the Sunday and Monday off.
Iheanacho wasn't spotted in any pictures with his teammates out and about celebrating in Glasgow. Instead, he travelled down to Manchester for one-on-one training sessions.
For O'Neill, retaining Iheanacho for 2026/27 is contingent on one key factor. "If the club were to keep him, then it's really to do with a proper pre-season for him," O'Neill said, after the striker's winner away to Hibs last month.
"He would have to do it, and I think that he would benefit greatly from that, where you're getting three or four weeks' work into him before the season starts, which I think he needs."
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The undeniable numbers
For Celtic, Iheanacho has registered 24 appearances, eight from the start and 16 off the bench. Nine goals and one assist in that time reads impressively.
Even more distinguished is his goals-per-minute ratio. In season 2025/26, Iheanacho found the back of the net every 99 minutes in green-and-white hoops. And they weren't just consolation strikes, or goals that added to Celtic's in-game advantage – most, if not all, were pivotal.
His fine finish away in Belgrade versus Crvena Zvezda earned Celtic a priceless Europa League draw, with Iheanacho's late goals against Kilmarnock, Dundee, Hibernian, and Motherwell winning 12 Premiership points alone, not to mention his brace that opened the floodgates in the Scottish Cup last-four clash with St Mirren.
If that wasn't enough, Iheanacho bagged in the final, rounding Aston Oxborough after, you guessed it, coming on as a second-half substitute.
More often than not, the ex-Leicester City frontman stepped up when it mattered. Big games require big moments and big players provide them.
With stoppage-time penalties away at Rugby Park and Fir Park, Iheanacho nervelessly carried the weighty burden of almighty pressure.
There are moments upon which seasons hinge, and Iheanacho's spot-kick against Motherwell in the penultimate round of Premiership fixtures doubtless fell into that category.
It was a 'buzzer-beater' penalty, Auston Trusty later said.
🍀 "Iconic scenes."
Kelechi Iheanacho scores a late penalty to snatch a HUGE win for Celtic at Motherwell! We're going to have a final day title decider - live on Sky Sports!
Motherwell vs Celtic & Hearts vs Falkirk reaction | Sky Sports Football now 📺 pic.twitter.com/zfEuiD69ZP
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 13, 2026
A simple decision
Iheanacho is deadly in front of goal, so his overall play often goes unnoticed. Having joined Man City from Taye Academy in Nigeria at 18, his grounding at an elite academy is apparent.
Capable of holding the ball in with his back to goal, Iheanacho proved his prowess as a hold-up centre-forward on countless occasions last term.
It sometimes looks like he has super glue smattered over his boots given his innate ability in tight situations.
Iheanacho prances around opponents and can even work in tandem as one half of a front two, as shown when he linked up with young Callum Osmand for the final 20 minutes of the league season against Hearts.
Why wouldn't Celtic want a player of Iheanacho's calibre around next campaign?
In this writer's view, even if the new manager can be guaranteed just half an hour of the striker from the bench each week, it can only be a positive.
Still just 29, Iheanacho not only gets what it means to play for Scotland's most successful club, but he also has the required capacity and desire to do so.
Another year of the centre-forward brings a guarantee of goals, and Osmand, 20, can continue learning from one of, if not the best, in Scotland.
Even though a new striker must be on Celtic's recruitment agenda this summer, extending Iheanacho's contract by another year is a straightforward decision which the powers-that-be surely can't get wrong.
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