Leicester City’s fairytale grasped the attention of the entire world in the 2015-16 season. From being threatened by relegation in the 2014-15 season, Ranieri’s side began the journey to an incredible come back. It saw them fight off relegation in the 2014-15 season and follow it up with an incredible title win the next season as the world stood to watch in amazement.
Winning the Premier League changed the club overnight. They had become one of the English sides to represent Europe, they were linked with big-name signings and most importantly they were being referred to as defending champions.
One such signing during this phase of euphoria was Islam Slimani. The Algerian centre-forward, signed from Sporting Clube De Portugal, came for a fee reported to be around £29 million, a club record for Leicester City at that time. He had impressed largely in his time at Portugal and scored an impressive 48 goals in 82 outings for the Portuguese club.
Slimani’s arrival was seen as a much-needed signing but for Leicester who were then preparing for an assault on domestic and European competitions and badly needed a backup hitman to the fan-favourite Jamie Vardy.
It has been almost a year and a half since Musa arrived and things are very different from what it was back then. The club finished 12th in the title defence campaign, the worst defence to the title in English history and are now again stuck at 9th position in the league this season after fifteen game weeks.
Slimani has not been able to deliver what he was brought in for and the Algerian has only made 40 appearances for the club scoring a paltry twelve goals. It is this loss of form that has seen Slimani find it difficult to secure a first team spot and the striker has been left short on confidence, leading to the demise of his career at the club.
It is now being reported that Slimani’s old mentor Marco Silva is ready to offer sanctuary to the Algerian forward by bringing him to Watford.
Watford has enjoyed a bright start to their season. The Hornets find themselves in the eighth position in the table having collected 22 points from their opening 15 games. They are just 3 points off the European spot and much of the credit goes to their new manager Marco Silva for improving the Hornets this season.
Hence, if it is the same man who wants to sanction a move for Slimani, the Watford board should not hesitate from giving their consent to make this transfer happen.
