Leicester City have capped their transfer window with the deadline day signing of Sporting Lisbon striker Islam Slimani. The Algerian international, 28, has had a thoroughly impressive goalscoring record in the Portuguese top flight over the last few seasons, and will be hoping to make a similar mark for Claudio Ranieri’s reigning Premier League champions over the coming five seasons.
Leicester complete signing of Islam Slimani
The 28-year-old Algerian striker joins from Sporting Lisbon.
Photo by Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images
Slimani has cost Leicester a club-record £30 million fee. It was initially reported that he’d arrive alongside his domestic teammate Adrien Silva in a joint transfer worth £60 million, but the deal for the midfielder now appears off.
✅ DONE DEAL! Algeria striker @slimaniislam completes a #DeadlineDay move to Leicester City. #WelcomeSlimani pic.twitter.com/uA9reEVsjd
— Leicester City (@LCFC) August 31, 2016
Still, that’s probably not going to come as too much of a disappointment for Leicester supporters. Fans seem to want a shiny new striker more than anything else in transfer markets, and in Slimani they’ve signed a player who should be able to make an immediate impact. It’s clear that this isn’t a signing for the future, it’s one for now, and Slimani has all of the attributes to suggest he can cope with the step up.
He’s tall and strong, and unlikely to be intimidated by the physicality of the English game. Last season Leonardo Ulloa was used by Leicester as a target man when coach Ranieri felt the need to tinker with the hard-working and mobile front two of Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki, and Slimani will offer a superior option to the Argentine at Leicester this season.
It remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to immediately establish himself as a first-choice, but it seems unlikely they’d spend so much for Slimani to spend time on the bench. It could well be that we see a slight alteration from their counter-attacking gameplan to account for Slimani’s game — one in which sheer strength is more likely to fashion a chance than a penetrating run.
Slimani finishes up as Leicester’s fifth acquisition of a fairly successful summer, after goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler, centre-back Luis Hernández, midfielder Nampalys Mendy and wingers Bartosz Kapustka and Ahmed Musa.
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