Football

Islam Slimani will help Leicester compete on all fronts- Andy King

Andy King feels the addition of record signing Islam Slimani shows Leicester’s intent to compete on all fronts this season.

Islam Slimani

Slimani joined the Premier League champions on transfer deadline day with his Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon saying Leicester had paid a club record £25.5million, potentially rising by another £4.2million, for the Algeria striker.

The 28-year-old scored 27 goals for Sporting last season and is an international team-mate of Foxes star Riyad Mahrez, last season’s PFA player of the year.

“I don’t know how big a role Riyad has played in it,” said King.

“But I have seen his goal record and Riyad speaks very highly of him coming from a good team in a good league. I am sure he will be a good addition to us.

“You will have to ask the manager (Claudio Ranieri) about where he sees him in his plans, but it is all about having a squad capable of rotating shape and players and the team still being strong.

“I think that is important as we are going to be playing a lot of games.

“We are going to be playing Saturday-Tuesday or Sunday-Wednesday for the whole month, so we’ll have a squad of 25.

“We will use all of those players and they need to be of the ability to perform in the Premier League and Champions League.”

Leicester lost midfield powerhouse N’Golo Kante to Chelsea this summer, but that was the only departure following their stunning Premier League title success.

And Slimani joins a Foxes squad already bolstered by the additions of Daniel Amartey, Ahmed Musa, Nampalys Mendy, Bartosz Kapustka, Luis Hernandez and Ron-Robert Zieler.

“We obviously didn’t want to rest on our laurels from last season,” said King.

“We managed to tie down a few of the players who had been there a while and contributed to the success the club has had over the years.

“But we have added quality and I am sure the club will be happy with the business they have done.

“I think we have assembled a squad capable of doing well in the Premier League and also the Champions League.”