Rafa Benitez offered the chance to sign ex-NUFC striker – Report

Rafa Benitez has been offered the chance to re-sign Leicester City striker Islam Slimani according to the Chronicle this morning – an opportunity he has swiftly rejected after his struggling spell at St James’ Park last season.

As we know, the Algerian international arrived on deadline day in January – and seemed a half decent last minute signing given he’d joined Leicester for almost £30m a few seasons ago – however the move couldn’t have gone much worse for him; and he didn’t help himself.

He arrived with a thigh injury. It seemed like a minor problem at the time, however little did we know it would end up keeping him out for two months.

When he finally got fit, he did make an impact from the bench against Huddersfield and Arsenal – playing a big part in goals during both games  – but failed to impress during his one and only start at Everton.

His fate was then sealed after a moment of madness against West Brom, with his kick out at Craig Dawson handing him a three-game ban, bringing his loan move from Leicester to a premature end.

Beggars can’t be choosers in our current position so some fans may be keen to take another punt on him, but he’s now 30, on big wages, his injury record is dubious and so is his temperament after that brainless kick out against the Baggies.

If he hadn’t have done that and instead bagged a few goals in the final few games of the season then maybe it would’ve been different, but Rafa has every right to reject him now.

 (Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

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