How Africa News
Algerian striker Islam Slimani joined French club Olympique Lyonnais on an 18-month contract until June 2022.
Slimani made the switch from English side Leicester City on a free transfer and will fill in the role vacated by Moussa Dembélé who was loaned out to Spanish side Atletico Madrid until end of June this year.
Slimani previously played for CR Belouizdad in Algeria and Sporting Lisbon in Portugal before his move to Leicester in 2016. He, however, found limited game time in England prompting a loan move to French club AS Monaco last season.
He enjoyed a productive spell scoring nine goals and providing seven assists in 18 league matches before the Ligue 1 season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Slimani expressed his joy at joining the seven-time French champions adding that he hoped to perform even better for it than he did for Monaco.
“I want to help the team achieve their goals. It’s a long term thing. The club understood my desire. I have taken a new step in my career. It was a goal for me to play for a big club like this,” Slimani told journalists during a press conference.
🤝 #Slimani2022 pic.twitter.com/4clMkbpj9G
— Olympique Lyonnais 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@OL_English) January 13, 2021
While he acknowledged that he had not played a lot of games in recent months, the 2019 AFCON winner said he had worked hard to maintain his fitness and will employ his combative spirit to make for his time off the pitch.
Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas said the club was happy to have acquired a high-level striker as it aims to end a run of nearly nine years without silverware and return to European club competition.
“We are very happy to welcome Islam Slimani. We had already spoken this summer, and now the opportunity has come to pass. I want to thank Juninho, who took matters into his own hands. We are happy to recruit an Algerian player.”
