Man Utd & Tottenham 'Increasingly Exploring' Islam Slimani Deal as Striker Asks to End Monaco Loan
By Tom Gott
Manchester United and Tottenham are both believed to have opened negotiations with the representatives of Leicester City striker Islam Slimani, who is eager to terminate his loan deal with Monaco.
Both English sides are in desperate need of attacking reinforcements and Slimani's name has recently cropped up in numerous reports. The Algerian, who struggled in the Premier League with Leicester, has racked up seven goals and seven assists in just 13 outings for Monaco this season.
According to RMC Sport, that form has caught the eye of both United and Spurs and now the two teams are working to discover what it would take to sign Slimani before the end of January.
The 31-year-old is currently set to remain with Monaco until the end of the season, so any interested side would first have to convince the French club to terminate the loan, before then meeting with Leicester to try and strike their own deal.
Fortunately, it is suggested that that may actually be fairly straightforward. RMC Sport note that Slimani is unhappy in France following new manager Robert Moreno's arrival at the club as he has fallen out of favour.
That's backed up by the Daily Mail, who go as far as to claim that Slimani has actually requested to leave Monaco after learning of interest from England.
That report focuses on United's interest in the striker, noting that the Red Devils have been told it would cost them £4m to bring Slimani in on loan for the remainder of the season, while Spurs' involvement in negotiations is not even mentioned.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers has previously suggested (via the Daily Mail) that a fresh move for Slimani would be 'too complicated' during the January transfer window, but he also could not rule anything out.
That uncertainty was based on the fact that he has a contract with Monaco, but if the French side decide that they don't want Slimani around anymore, that could open the door for either United or Spurs to swoop in.