Unable to find game time under Brendan Rodgers last season, Leicester City’s Islam Slimani was sent to AS Monaco to get some minutes.
He started off amazingly, forming a great partnership with Wissam Ben Yedder, and while that dipped a bit towards the end of the campaign, the Algeria international once again showed the world that with faith and trust from his manager, he remains lethal in front of goal.
This led to speculation he could find himself an easy enough exit this summer, one year from the end of his contract at King Power Stadium, and yet here we are, less than a week from the end of the transfer window with the striker still in England.
However, that could all change very quickly, as RMC Sport’s Mohamed Bouhafsi is reporting on Tuesday that Lyon have ‘started negotiations’ with Slimani, who ‘could be freed from the last year of his deal at Leicester’.
Info @RMCsport : #OL a entamé des négociations avec Islam #Slimani. Il pourrait être libéré de sa dernière année de contrat avec #Leicester. La possibilité de rejoindre l’OL intéresse Slimani. L’OL aimerait avancer avec l’algérien en cas de départ de l’un de ses joueurs offensifs
— Mohamed Bouhafsi (@mohamedbouhafsi) September 29, 2020
It’s added the idea of joining the Ligue 1 side ‘is of interest’ to the player, and the French club ‘would like to advance with the Algerian in case one of their forwards leave’.
This immediately suggests Lyon are covering their backs should Memphis Depay end up teaming up with Ronald Koeman in Barcelona or if a Premier League club slap a lot of money on the table for Moussa Dembélé.
Either way, this might be the best opportunity for Slimani, and it’s likely one he’ll grasp with both hands if progress is made and the door opens for it to go through.
