OPINION
West Ham were lucky to miss out on signing Leicester City forward Islam Slimani in the January transfer window, so it’s really worrying that the Hammers are reportedly keen to pursue him once again.
La Gazette du Fennec reported on Thursday that after expressing an interest in signing the 29-year-old in January, only for Newcastle United to acquire his services on loan at that time, the Hammers had made a charge for the Foxes forward in recent days.
The football news outlet claimed that Slimani would be keen to stay in the Premier League, if he left the Foxes, and that preference had brought him closer to a potential move to the London Stadium.
However if this report is true then is utterly mind-boggling that David Moyes would try to sign a player that the club were fortunate not to get.
The 29-year-old experienced an awful time on loan at the Magpies and Rafa Benitez will no doubt regret ever welcoming him to St James’ Park.
Aside from struggling to feature for the Magpies, due to a thigh injury, Slimani was far from inspiring in the four appearances he did manage to make.
The centre-forward failed to find the back of the net in his outings and only had an assist that he got during the Magpies’ 2-1 win over Arsenal to show for his efforts.
Slimani then ended his loan spell in spectacularly fashion by kicking West Bromwich Albion defender Craig Dawson, as reported by The Sun, which saw him earn a three game ban to end his season prematurely.
The 29-year-old showed no signs during his brief spell at St James’ Park that the Hammers should be looking to lure him to the London Stadium in the summer.
The forward is not an upgrade on the club’s current options and given his disciplinary issue as well as his injury record, it’s like signing a worse Andy Carroll.
Therefore the Hammers should avoid turning the car around in the summer to pickup Slimani, who they missed out on January, and just thank their lucky stars that he never arrived at the club in January.
