The Algerian arrived at Newcastle in January but is yet to make his debut for the club and will be sidelined for another few weeks due to injury.
Rafa Benitez confirmed that January loan arrival Islam Slimani will be unavailable for this weekend’s Premier League clash away at Bournemouth, having irritated the injury which he arrived at the club with in training.
The 29-year-old arrived with much promise on loan from Leicester City with the St James’ Park faithful praying that he could be the man to provide the goals that their team has been so desperately lacking this season.
However, with the Algerian confirmed to be out for another few weeks, Benitez will have to rely on his under-performing trio of Ayoze Perez, Joselu and Dwight Gayle to come up with the goods, with Aleksandar Mitrovic having been shipped off on loan to Fulham.
Slimani may well have an important role to play for Newcastle if he manages to regain match fitness ahead of the final run of league fixtures, and has proven before in his career that he is capable of being a prolific goal scorer.
In 2015/16 he bagged a stunning 31 goals for Sporting Lisbon, which led to Leicester City’s interest in Slimani, and his eventual move to the Premier League.
On top of this, the striker has notched up an impressive tally of 27 goals in 56 games for his country, a return that any international forward can be proud of.
Nonetheless, Newcastle fans could not hide their frustration over news of his injury setback, taking to Twitter to express their feelings over the current situation.
Many fans have been calling for Slimani to be sent back to Leicester, whilst others simply explained that the club deserves what it gets for trying to be too clever in the transfer window, instead of simply pulling together the funds to buy a non-injured striker.
Here is a round up of the reaction…
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