It looks like Leicester City may have lost a good chance of finally selling Islam Slimani on a permanent deal this summer.
Portuguese newspaper A Bola reports today that Benfica have made an approach to know the conditions of a deal, but were stopped by a clause in his contract.
When signing Slimani from Sporting back in 2016, Leicester City agreed an ‘anti-rival clause’, meaning that he can’t be sold to either Benfica or Porto in the future.
So when the Eagles made contact with the Foxes, they heard that Sporting would have to be compensated with €30m in case the move went through. As soon as these conversations happened, the Premier League side contacted the Lions to let them know about it.
Perhaps that’s the reason why Benfica released a statement claiming they’ve never made a bid for Slimani. Because even though the Eagles deny it, all the Portuguese press reports this approach today.A Bola says that Benfica’s intention was to spend €15m on the player, so maybe Leicester City could have recovered part of the money they spent o him.
