Over the weekend, a rumour appeared on a large number of Francophone websites claiming that Nantes were ‘interested in’ Leicester City’s Islam Slimani.
The Algerian striker is clearly unhappy at King Power Stadium, and a move to another club has long been touted ahead of the January transfer window, with a number of Premier League clubs interested in his profile.
Rennes in Ligue 1 also popped up as a potential destination for the 29-year-old, yet a return to France appeared to then be discarded in favour of a stay in England.
Most of the reports citing the aforementioned rumour didn’t link back to any particular website, just ‘specialised websites in France’, and a little bit of digging led us to this article on Buzzsport.fr.
Upon reading it, it became quickly apparent the writer was merely suggesting a move for Slimani ahead of the transfer window rather than reporting any concrete information about it.
After all, with Nantes struggling to score goals, the Leicester striker in need of game time and Claudio Ranieri the man who brought him to the Foxes in the first place, it’s an easy story to write, and not the worst suggestion in the world.
Of course, there are a lot of stumbling blocks, mostly financial, but also personal (Slimani turned down Nantes in 2013), before this could ever happen, and this would be the longest of shots by the Ligue 1 side if they gave it a go.
However, nothing points towards anything of the sort happening, so that should be that.
