It didn’t take long for Islam Slimani’s possible return to Sporting from Leicester City to get quite big in the Portuguese press.
This Tuesday, newspaper A Bola had a front page story about the Lions’ interest in bringing the striker back to the club, and later on the day, manager Jorge Jesus teased with the possibility when speaking at a pre-match press conference.
His quotes were transcribed by A Bola’s website, and we’ve covered them all. But when reporting the same press conference today, the newspaper adds a few words, which shows that Jesus was actually even more excited when speaking about Slimani.
“All the teams in the world take advantage of the winter market to make adjustments. Some have more chance than others, more money than others. I don’t like to talk about players who are not in Sporting. I’m talking about Slimani because he’s a loved player. We know that Slimani is not playing but we do not have more data to say anything factual. Now that Slimani is a player loved by his teammates, fans and the technical team, he is. If they want to get him in here, I understand it.”
“The market in January will open and when it opens, anything can happen. We don’t have absolute certainties. It’s only natural that all teams make adjustments because of players who are not happy to play less, but this is followed by a strategy from the club, namely from our president.
“We are on top of the market, namely working with him, but we don’t have absolute certainties. We are very happy with the players we have, we are not thinking about who is going to leave, we are more thinking that we could have some more to enter, but maybe we have to balance. If there is a possibility of adjustment the president will do it for sure.”
It’s worth recalling that A Bola’s report claimed there are several clubs interested in the striker, so Sporting’s will to sign Slimani on a loan deal doesn’t mean it will be easy to get him.
There’s also the fact that Leicester City paid €30m to buy him last year, so keeping the player in England would probably be the club’s wish in order not to see his market value maintained.
