Newcastle United Fan View: Could Islam Slimani be the man to save Magpies?

There has been a great deal of doom and gloom around Tyneside this season. There has been the hope and promise of a takeover which ended in utter deflation, the expectation and inevitable disappointment of another miserable January transfer window and we haven’t even started to talk about the football yet.

At the time of writing, Newcastle United sit 16th in the league; six points away from 9th, five points away from bottom. As we don’t have a game until Sunday when we take on Manchester United, the Magpies could be sitting in the bottom three by Saturday evening, adding even more pressure to get a result against the high flying Red Devils.

Could new signing Islam Slimani be the key?

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Whilst there have been a lot of negatives this season, there were some positives to come out of the January transfer window; Kenedy finally signed on loan from Chelsea, a player whom Rafa Benitez has wanted for a long time and Islam Slimani signed from Leicester City, also on loan, but a striker that was high up on Rafa Benitez’s list of targets. Rafa also got the keeper target in Dubravka – yet another loan signing. You didn’t actually think Mike Ashley was going to spend money, did you?

The number nine shirt has a great deal of meaning in these parts but no-one has managed to fill the shirt since Alan Shearer retired. The current holder is Dwight Gayle (having won the right to wear the number nine due to winning a penalty shootout competition against recently departed Aleksandar Mitrovic). Gayle has done well in the shirt, leading the scoring charts last season in the Championship, but something has clearly been amiss this season. In the summer he was linked with moves away from the North East, with a lot of reports worryingly stating his mental health as a reason for his departure. Whatever the reasons, Gayle has looked a few yards off the pace this season and unfortunately for Newcastle United, the likes of Perez, Joselu and Mitrovic have all failed to step up when called upon.

Islam Slimani was prolific for Sporting, scoring almost 50 goals in 80 games. This prompted a huge move to then-Premier League champions, Leicester City for a whopping £28m. The idea was to give competition to the inform striker Jamie Vardy (who at the time was being linked with a move to Arsenal). However, Slimani’s career has stalled at Leicester and he has failed to oust the England striker from the starting eleven.

Slimani is every bit a Rafa Benitez striker; he is big, strong, powerful, has a selfish eye for goal and he can play as a lone striker, a role which Gayle has consistently struggled with. Gayle was bought to score goals in the Championship, and he did just that. However, I do not think Gayle was ever in Benitez’s Premiership plans.

A report this morning in the Guardian states that Slimani is hoping his loan move becomes permanent; if he scores the goals to keep the Magpies in the top tier, then I would imagine (if the price is right of course), that Benitez would be more than keen to make that move happen. That said, if we still have Ashley at the helm, asking him to break the Newcastle transfer record is easier said than done. I would imagine Leicester will want to recoup pretty close to the £28m they paid for the Algerian striker just 18 months ago – this won’t be a cheap deal that is for sure.

For now, though, I am happy we have him. He may only have a handful of games to play in, hopefully starting on Sunday against Manchester United, but he is a definite improvement on what we have within the first-team ranks. Kenedy has started his Newcastle United career well, let’s hope Slimani is equally as effective.