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Islam Slimani being called up to the Algeria national team by Rabah Madjer has been a cause of concern over at Newcastle United, with Rafa Benitez preferring his star striker didn’t participate in the country’s upcoming friendlies.

However, the Spaniard also admitted he was powerless to stop him, so there will be a lot of finger crossing over the coming weeks in hope the Leicester loanee doesn’t aggravate his current injury.

Well, Compétition in Algeria, who were present at the national team’s first training session, give us some information on how the 29-year-old got on.

According to the website, Slimani trained ‘normally with the group’, but, despite the session being a relatively light one, the Newcastle striker ‘was being very careful in how he moved’ and ensured he didn’t push himself too far.

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Compétition explain the Algeria national team staff will follow his behaviour and his injury very closely before deciding whether or not he will feature against Tanzania on Thursday.

At least they’re being careful, and that’s good news for Rafa Benitez and Newcastle fans.