Wonderkid Kelechi Iheanacho will sign a deal with Manchester City, according to the player’s father.

Iheanacho was named the best player at November’s Under-17s World Cup after scoring six goals, including one in the final, as the Golden Eaglets triumphed in the United Arab Emirates.

He has since been linked with moves to Porto and Chelsea but his father, James, said that the Etihad Stadium will be his boys’ next destination.

“As I am talking to you, I have chosen that Kelechi is going to Manchester United,” he told Super Sport’s ‘Monday Night Football’, before appearing to correct himself by saying: “I have told you that he is going to Manchester City.”

Iheanacho senior later said that the player’s family made a joint decision on where he would go in a meeting on Monday night. “We prayed [on Monday] and, after due consultations with family members, we came up with Manchester City, believing he has a future there,” he explained. “That is where he will be uplifted.”

The young striker had been declared missing by his father on Friday after he had left his home in Owerri without alerting his family but returned early on Monday morning before a decision on his future was made.

James has been integral in his son’s fledgling career, with rumours that he had valued the starlet at €1 million (£840,000), though he denied those claims, declaring: “No, those people are my enemies. I never said that.”

Read more: Vanguard Newspapers