Islam Slimani reveals Tottenham Hotspur wanted to sign him last January
According to France Football (h/t Leicester Mercury), Leicester City striker Islam Slimani has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur were keen on securing his services last January.
The North Londoners were facing a striker crisis following the injury to star forward Harry Kane. This left the club without a recognized striker going into the second half of the season.
This led to us looking at prospective targets to sign during the winter window-one of them Slimani. In fact, according to the report, Jose Mourinho personally rang up the player to make his interest known.
The Algerian was then on loan at French side Monaco. Having scored nine goals in 18 games for the Ligue 1 side, his form caught the attention of Spurs. (h/t Leicester Mercury)
“In the space of six months, I went from the nightmare at Fenerbahçe to a phone call from José Mourinho who wanted to sign me.”
The move, however, did not materialize and we ended up signing Steven Bergwijn instead. In a way, the lockdown came to our rescue as it gave us time to get Kane and also Son Heung-Min back to fitness.
The lack of having a specialist striker to back up Kane was something that came to haunt us last season. It would appear that the lesson has been learned.
Spurs have gone and brought in Brazilian striker Carlos Vinicius on a season-long loan with an option to buy. Having ended last season as the Primeira Liga top scorer, the 25-year-old is an able deputy to call upon.
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While Slimani would have been a decent addition, he would have been nothing more than an emergency signing.
The 32-year old has failed to impress during his time in England. In many ways, passing on him has proven to be a good decision.
