da spicy bet： According to reports in The Mirror on December 31, Watford are confident of pipping Newcastle United to the January signing of out of favour Leicester City striker Islam Slimani, who is rated at £19.8m according to Transfermarkt.
da jogodeouro： The Mirror says that Hornets boss Marco Silva wants to bring the 29-year-old to Vicarage Road to boost his side’s goalscoring woes, having worked with the centre-forward at Sporting Lisbon previously.
The report says that the Algeria international wants out of the King Power Stadium having found first-team opportunities hard to come by, but he did score in the Foxes’ 3-0 win against Huddersfield Town on Monday.
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur’s three-match winning run in the Premier League came to an end when they drew 1-1 with London rivals West Ham United at Wembley on Thursday, which left them 21 points behind leaders Manchester City and four points adrift of Liverpool in fourth place.
With the chase for a Champions League spot looking like it might go to the wire and with Spurs facing a knockout tie against Juventus in the same competition, manager Mauricio Pochettino may be looking to add to his squad this month, and bringing Slimani in could prove to be a shrewd move.
Here are three reasons Tottenham must hijack Watford’s bid to sign the Algerian…
Fernando Llorente’s form
Mauricio Pochettino brought Llorente to the club during the summer transfer window to provide cover and competition for Harry Kane, but the Spaniard probably hasn’t made the impact that the Argentine boss might have hoped that he would.
Even though he has largely been restricted to substitute appearances, the 32-year-old has only scored two goals in 21 outings in total for Spurs this term, and it took him 12 top flight outings to score his first Premier League goal for them – against former club Swansea City on Tuesday.
Pochettino may look to bring in another striker this month to boost Tottenham’s hopes of securing a top four finish and progressing in the knockout stages of the Champions League, and Slimani could be the ideal addition.
His ability
While Slimani has struggled to start regularly for Leicester following his £30m move from Sporting Lisbon in 2016, it’s difficult to label him as a flop when he has scored 13 goals and provided a further six assists in 44 appearances in all competitions – many of which have come from the substitutes’ bench.
He showed his goalscoring abilities by netting 57 goals in 111 games for Sporting previously, and as well as being strong at scoring with his head, he showed his ability on the floor as well with a brilliant dinked finish over Huddersfield Town goalkeeper Jonas Lossl on Monday.
His unselfish style would certainly mean he fits in well at Tottenham, and he could prove to be an influential figure for them both domestically and in Europe in the second-half of the campaign.
Point to prove
If Slimani does end up leaving Leicester this month for another Premier League team, he will certainly have a big point to prove and will be determined to show that he can be a success at this level.
The 29-year-old will feel hard done by with his lack of opportunities with the Foxes, but his experience in the English top flight and in the Champions League can help him be a success at a club like Tottenham – even if the majority of his appearances and impact come off of the substitutes’ bench until a point when Harry Kane is unavailable.
Do you agree, Spurs fans? Let us know below.