Islam Slimani joins Newcastle on loan from Leicester until end of season
Thursday 1 February 2018 11:00, UK
Islam Slimani has joined Newcastle on loan from Leicester until the end of the season.
The Algeria international became Leicester's club-record signing in 2016 for £28m from Sporting Lisbon but has only started two Premier League games for the Foxes this season.
Slimani said: "It's a great thing for me and for Newcastle. I'm happy to be here. Hopefully, I can come here and be able to give them a hand.
"Knowing the power of the fans and crowd here and how great they are, and also speaking to the manager, it gave me the confidence that this was the right choice."
Rafa Benitez said of his new signing: "Slimani is a player with experience in the Premier League, and obviously we were looking for that.
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"He is a player who can fight with defenders, challenge and score goals. Hopefully, he can give us some experience and some different characteristics to the strikers that we have at the moment."
Newcastle, who sit one point above the relegation zone, have scored 23 goals in 25 Premier League matches and Rafael Benitez had been determined to bolster his squad during the January transfer window.
Benitez had already seen Daniel Sturridge opt for a move to West Brom on loan until the end of the campaign and the Magpies failed to meet Feyenoord's £20m valuation for Nicolai Jorgensen.
Slimani has become the third striker to leave Claude Puel's squad in the past week after Leonardo Ulloa was allowed to return to former club Brighton and Ahmed Musa re-joined CSKA Moscow on a similar loan deal until the end of the season.
Slimani is unlikely to make his debut for Newcastle against Crystal Palace on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League, after he suffered a thigh injury in training which is set to sideline him for two weeks.
