Back in the last knockings of the summer transfer window in 2016, Leicester City broke their transfer record to lure striker Islam Slimani to the King Power Stadium.
The 30-year-old had shone at Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon in the three years prior to that in netting a mightily impressive 57 goals in just 109 appearances for the Primeira Liga side, thus prompting the Foxes to splash out £28 million on the Algeria international as they began the defence of their Premier League title.
And, somewhat unsurprisingly, the arrival of Slimani generated quite a reaction from Leicester fans back in 2016, with many delighted to see their club show huge ambition ahead of their title defence, and indeed their Champions League campaign…
Well done @LCFC @slimaniislam is an awesome player, suits our style. Looking for meats to a #foreverfearless season and defending the title
— Ben Royston (@bbroyston) August 31, 2016
yesssssssssssss cracking signing #welcomeslimani #lcfc
— Ryan Devo (@devo_lcfc) August 31, 2016
announce champions league last 16 details
— Lee Smith (@smiddy_lcfc123) September 2, 2016
yes!!!
— Josh (@joshwithers4) August 31, 2016
Algerian Suarez!
— Harry (@HazB69) August 31, 2016
#welcomeslimani that is a marquee signing right there! #lcfc
— Shamir Mawji (@shamirmawji) August 31, 2016
Woke up after dreaming that #LCFC have signed a player for £30m.
Hang on…. #Slimani
— For Fox Sake Podcast (@FFSPod) August 31, 2016
Yet, two years on, it’s fair to say that things haven’t quite worked out for Slimani at the Midlands outfit, to the point that he is currently playing his football in Turkey for heavyweights Fenerbahce after falling down the pecking order at the King Power Stadium.
The Algerian star made a solid enough start to life at Leicester by netting eight goals in all competitions in his first season with the Foxes, seven of which coming in the Premier League as the Midlands outfit hauled themselves away from the relegation zone to eventually finish 12th under Craig Shakespeare.
But with just a handful of starts under the Englishman during the remainder of the campaign following his appointment as Claudio Ranieri’s successor in February 2017, things weren’t looking good for Slimani heading into the summer, and things didn’t get much better at the start of the 2017/18 season given he started just once in the league up until New Year’s Day.
And the beginning of the end of Slimani’s time at Leicester was brought about by him going on loan to fellow top-flight side Newcastle United in the second half of last season, where he again struggled to prove his worth with injuries restricting him to just four appearances for the Magpies.
As such, with the 30-year-old now even further down the pecking order, he was shipped out on loan to Turkish giants Fenerbahce earlier this month for the entirety of the 2018/19 season, thus plunging into doubt whether he does indeed have a long-term future at Leicester.
And based on some of the tweets welcoming the Algerian to the club back in 2016, some of those supporters may well be embarrassed given how much Slimani has flopped during his time at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester fans… what do you think? Let us know!
