Official - Slimani joins OL

[Detroit Blues]

5 hours ago, jayfox26 said:

I'm not talking about when we signed him, I'm talking about now. A few people saying we should have kept him as a plan b. My point is, Rodgers doesn't use a plan b and nor should we need to. He was a bad signing and we move on. 

Ah, that's where you're coming from. My original post was that at the time I had hope he would be our plan B when he signed. I don't think that now. 

[LestaAl]

He’s gone at last, why waste anymore words on this ...close the tread.

[Tom12345]

He is not a bad player. Everytime he plays, if not so isolated, he seems to link up well and looks threatening. He just doesn’t suit us as we like a Jamie Vardy who is fast paced always and likes to hug the line. He doesn’t accelerate quickly. But when he does get a chance, he often hits it on target. Better than some.

 

I wish him well.

Edited 14 January 2021 by Tom12345

[fox_favourite]

Ah well, big loss made on him, but needed to go long before now. You win some, you lose some. But glad he's finally gone. 

[Spudulike]

Is he still our record signing or did the YT transfer exceed it? Or Little Wes? 

[Trelleh]

Up there with Akinbiyi this one

[Spudulike]

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

Is he still our record signing or did the YT transfer exceed it? Or Little Wes? 

To answer my own question: 

 

Slimani is 4th highest after Youri, Lil' Wes and Ayoze. 

 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/leicester-city/transferrekorde/verein/1003

 

[jayfox26]

7 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

I agree with most of this he wasn't a good fit here (bit of a poison chalice though signing as a striker for Leicester City behind a 28 year Jamie Vardy). I just don't think hes completely useless like a lot on here seem to think. 

 

Yes he was limited and you have to play to his strengths but if you do he is absolutely lethal like at Monaco last year. 

 

Yes he will go down as a terrible signing but I don't think he's a terrible player even at Leicester where it wasn't a fit at all he still ended up with far more goals and assists per minute in the Premier league than Ulloa, Nugent or Okazaki who are all stone cold hero's here. 

 

But anyway he's gone. Pointless arguing over him anymore. Let's hope the club get the next big money striker signing right as there less margin for error than in summer of 16 with Vardys age. 

Yes i do agree and he did score some important goal for us to be fair. The likes of Ulloa, Okazki and Nugent were all really likeable guys as well, which is why they all had cult hero status whilst here but Slimani didnt seem a particularly likeable guy either. None of us knew him personally and none of us know exactly what went on behind the scenes but there were lots of rumours flying around that certain players like Vardy didnt like him much but as I said, none of us know the full story. Like you say, our next striker signing needs to be the right one but anyone that thinks we will get a straight like for like replacement for Vardy is going to be disappointed as there arent many/any players in the world that can do what he does for us in my opinion. 

[Col city fan]

Waits for the routine ‘but we didn’t play to his strengths’ comment...

Awful signing but it happens 

[jayfox26]

4 hours ago, Detroit Blues said:

Ah, that's where you're coming from. My original post was that at the time I had hope he would be our plan B when he signed. I don't think that now. 

Ah fair enough, sorry my bad, that makes more sense. Seen a few of our fans now saying we should have kept him as Rodgers needs a plan b, and it really bugs me as if Rodgers needed a plan b, we wouldn't be 3rd in the league. Think we are all agreed we need a new striker, I just dont think it needs to be a big target man type. We need someone mobile who can put themselves around a bit and also a decent finisher but I know players like that can be hard to come by, especially ones proven at prem level. 

[Finnegan]

Jesus, imagine being a Lyon fan right now. What a downgrade. 

[Simoken]

1 hour ago, Trelleh said:

Up there with Akinbiyi this one

100% much worse considering the price tag.

[Collymore]

1 hour ago, Trelleh said:

Up there with Akinbiyi this one

You're forgetting that Akinbiyi was sold for half of what we paid for him. 

[Col city fan]

20 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

Jesus, imagine being a Lyon fan right now. What a downgrade. 

That was my first thought. 
Lyon currently top League 1

Why Slimani?

 

[shen]

1 minute ago, Col city fan said:

That was my first thought. 
Lyon currently top League 1

Why Slimani?

 

Short-term backup who's a proven recent goalscorer in Ligue 1?
I'm surprised Slimani is still here since summer after his fine spell, but that must surely be down to his wages alone if we were willing to let him go for free...

Edited 14 January 2021 by shen

[shen]

11 minutes ago, Simoken said:

100% much worse considering the price tag.

Is the price tag really fair on the player though?

Slimani is nowhere near amongst the worst players the club has bought, but it's probably one of the worst deals it's made for sure.

[Koke]

22 minutes ago, shen said:

Is the price tag really fair on the player though?

Slimani is nowhere near amongst the worst players the club has bought, but it's probably one of the worst deals it's made for sure.

 

Kinda agree. But then I would argue Akinbiyi isn't even in the top 5 worst players we've had either. I've seen worse in the mid 2000s (Elvis Hammond). 

 

Price tag isn't fair on the player. That's why Maguire gets so much stick. If he cost £40m and wasn't captain he would be treated like Luke Shaw. 

 

Edited 14 January 2021 by Koke

[shen]

1 minute ago, Koke said:

 

Kinda agree. But then I would argue Akinbiyi isn't even in the top 5 worst players we've had either. I've seen worse in the mid 2000s (Elvis zhammond). 

 

Price tag isn't fair on the player. That's why Maguire gets so much stick. If he cost £40m and wasn't captain he would be treated like Luke Shaw. 

Completely agree. Akinbiyi was a limited player, but he always tried hard. I don't think anyone could put a finger on his commitment or workrate. Not his fault the club lobbed a massive fee in Wolves' direction.

I accept it's difficult to separate ability of the player from the deal made. We're mostly concerned with getting value for money as fans (which is a bit peculiar really). Obviously, if we went on ability alone, we'd probably be able to name a slew of players from our time in L1/Div2 who'd be far worse than Akinbiyi, Silva, Slimani etc.

[LCCFox96]

Outside of his first few months with us there are very little positives to pick out. A handful of average performances in City blue, two failed loan spells where - had he performed - we might have got him off the books sooner, a then club record transfer fee, and a huge contract and weekly pay packet into his early 30's. A bust pretty much from start to finish. He's a decent enough striker but his game didn't ever fit and glad to see the back of him.

 

He's landed on his feet with a move to Lyon though, and we've saved ourselves 2million-ish getting him out the door 6 months early. With the context of that scenario, or him kicking about for another 6months and then going for free anyway this is a positive step forward. With Kapustka, Silva, Slimani and Diabate all gone this season we've streamlined nicely even if we only got a decent fee for Diabate (pro rata to ability and initial outlay). Hopefully Ghezzal keeps up his form at Besiktas and he too will be on his way come the summer.

[murphy]

2 hours ago, Trelleh said:

Up there with Akinbiyi this one

 

46 minutes ago, Simoken said:

100% much worse considering the price tag.

I disagree.  The £5m we paid for Akinbiyi 21 years ago was a colossal amount at the time.  Given transfer inflation it must be the same, if not more than the £29m we paid for Slim.  The record transfer fee for 2000 was Figo to Barcelona for £37.5m.  In 2017 Naymar went to PSG for £198m.  Year on year TV rights increase dramatically driving huge transfer inflation

 

It's not just about financials though, the Akinbiyi transfer, in my opinion, cost us our Premier League status which is why he goes down as all time transfer dud number one  for me.

 

 

[gerrytaggart]

He leaves us quite a few million pounds richer than when he arrived.   

[Col city fan]

37 minutes ago, murphy said:

 

I disagree.  The £5m we paid for Akinbiyi 21 years ago was a colossal amount at the time.  Given transfer inflation it must be the same, if not more than the £29m we paid for Slim.  The record transfer fee for 2000 was Figo to Barcelona for £37.5m.  In 2017 Naymar went to PSG for £198m.  Year on year TV rights increase dramatically driving huge transfer inflation

 

It's not just about financials though, the Akinbiyi transfer, in my opinion, cost us our Premier League status which is why he goes down as all time transfer dud number one  for me.

 

 

The Akinbadbuyi signing was a strange one. 
I recollect that there was very little complaint at the time at us signing him. He was seen as a good, strong, on-form striker 

And then he joined us and literally couldn’t hit a barn door. The rest is history

I remember watching him at Filbert Street (if I’ve got this right) when we played Liverpool and lost 5-1? Fowler scored four? 
I think Akinbyi got our goal but was generally useless. 
Hugely disappointing signing but as I say, we actually expected good things of him when he joined us
Apologies if I got that game wrong btw.

Edited 14 January 2021 by Col city fan

[foxile5]

7 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

The Akinbadbuyi signing was a strange one. 
I recollect that there was very little complaint at the time at us signing him. He was seen as a good, strong, on-form striker 

And then he joined us and literally couldn’t hit a barn door. The rest is history

I remember watching him at Filbert Street (if I’ve got this right) when we played Liverpool and lost 5-1? Fowler scored four? 
I think Akinbyi got our goal but was generally useless. 
Hugely disappointing signing but as I say, we actually expected good things of him when he joined us
Apologies if I got that game wrong btw.

Yes there is some revisionism going on in parts. 

 

When he signed he had developed a good scoring record, he was big and powerful, and it would not have been unsurprising to see him go to a bigger and better team than us. His first season wasn't CATACLYSMIC either - he scored nine in an ailing team. 

 

What sunk Akinbiyi was the chances. If he scores nine and had half the chances that would have been okay but the team around him created enough for him to score twenty. 

 

 

[Col city fan]

21 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

Yes there is some revisionism going on in parts. 

 

When he signed he had developed a good scoring record, he was big and powerful, and it would not have been unsurprising to see him go to a bigger and better team than us. His first season wasn't CATACLYSMIC either - he scored nine in an ailing team. 

 

What sunk Akinbiyi was the chances. If he scores nine and had half the chances that would have been okay but the team around him created enough for him to score twenty. 

 

 

Dead right. I remember him having his head in his hands on quite a few occasions where he’d contrived to miss the goal from 5 yards out.

Its like he joined us and just lost all his confidence.

Very frustrating I suspect for him and definitely for us 

[foxile5]

1 hour ago, Col city fan said:

Dead right. I remember him having his head in his hands on quite a few occasions where he’d contrived to miss the goal from 5 yards out.

Its like he joined us and just lost all his confidence.

Very frustrating I suspect for him and definitely for us 

The price tag hung heavy in tandem with supporter expectations.

 

Had he gone to a slightly bigger club he might have fared better. But we expected him to be worth every penny and each miss was confirmation he wasn't. Fans groaned and he began to shrink. 

 

That Sunderland celebration was real relief for the man.