Manuel Pellegrini says Kelechi Iheanacho's emergence at Manchester City is justifying his decision to release two strikers last summer.
The young Nigerian scored a hat-trick at Aston Villa and a fourth from Raheem Sterling saw City canter into the last 16 with a 4-0 win that maintained their chances of winning four trophies this season.
Iheanacho stepped up to the regular first-team squad when Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic departed for Italy and now has eight goals this season despite starting just five games.
Pellegrini said: "I see him working every day so I know what he can do. Maybe I received some criticism why we didn't replace Jovetic and Dzeko and I answered we had Kelechi.
"I am not thinking about money, I am thinking we have a young player who is very important for our club. We have good players who are ready to play and you must keep the options. I know we have a player who deserves space in the squad."
With Wilfried Bony injured Pellegrini could now include Iheanacho in his designated Champions League squad, to be submitted by Tuesday.
He said: "It's a decision we are going to take this week before the last date. Of course he pushes a lot. We need him because of Bony's injury."
Iheanacho said: "I'm so glad to score a hat-trick, it's a great day in my life but it's not the greatest day of my life because I need to keep working hard. This is the starting point of my career so I need to keep going.
"It's important to get an early goal. The penalty was very good, I took my time - it was a very good penalty for me."
Pellegrini was pleased with City's performance but again sought to play down their chances of a quadruple as he said: "I don't think it's a good way of thinking. In my first season we won two titles (league and League Cup) and went out in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
"I'm very happy because we made some important changes. We're playing so many important games that I think we needed to rotate the squad."