Revealed: Leicester City striker Islam Slimani was close to leaving
Remember Leicester City striker Islam Slimani? Well, he is back at it – no, he’s not scoring goals, he is unhappy at his club again and almost secured a transfer to Real Betis.
Sent to Fenerbahce on a season-long loan with the hope that he might rediscover his scoring form, Slimani has been a bigger failure in Turkey than he was at Leicester.
He has only scored thrice in 19 appearances, the sort of return that convinced him to book his tickets to either Leicester or somewhere else.
To no one’s surprise, the Foxes, in no uncertain terms, made it clear to Fenerbahce that they didn’t want him back before the summer, and so the Turkish outfit found Real Betis for the 30-year old. The rest is misery.
"“Slimani wanted to leave,” said Fenerbahce vice-president Semi Ozsoy.“We held talks with Betis. After we considered, we decided for him to stay until the end of the season. If he left the club then we needed to buy a striker, but he will be with us.”"
Slimani must now stay put and try to gain manager Ersun Yanal’s faith in him, who is reported to have told him to either leave or be benched for the remainder of the season.
How times change. When Slimani was signed from Sporting CP for a club record £28 million, he was expected to form a formidable partnership with Jamie Vardy, but he just couldn’t find that touch from his days in Portugal. He still hasn’t and probably won’t at this age.
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He’ll be 31 by the time his loan ends, and it’s unlikely that he’d be welcomed back in a young Leicester side, not with Claude Puel at the helm anyway. Yes, he may stand a good chance if Sam Allardyce is the the new Leicester boss next summer.