Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:05 pm
Ole Gunnar Solskjær arriving at Cardiff City earlier this month brought something of a fresh start to the football club. If Vincent Tan had appointed Solskjær with much fanfare then he had to back the new manager and would have to cease any behind the scenes war going on between the executive side of the club and those managing the football team.
Such is Solskjær's reputation it was hard to believe he'd have agreed to work as a puppet manager with players forced upon him, the double signing of Magnus Eikrem and Mats Daehli confirmed that he wouldn't be. The pair had worked under the Norwegian at both Manchester United and Molde, they are clearly two players he trusts a great deal and Cardiff wasted no time bringing them in.
For all Tan's faults, he has spent money on players and Cardiff's spend since the beginning of the summer transfer window is around £35m which eclipses Manchester United, for example. Solskjær will probably have his own targets and it's hard to know if Islam Slimani is one of those or if he pre-dates the Norwegian's arrival in Wales.
The Algerian international was linked to Cardiff just after Solskjær took over by various outlets including talkSPORT. He's a striker who moved to Sporting Lisbon in the summer and has since failed to cement a regular place in the team, but had done reasonably well as a substitute. He's had more success internationally and helped Algeria to qualify for this summer's World Cup, being voted his country's player of the year along the way.
Cardiff are currently rock bottom of the Premier League and a big thing holding the team back is goal-scoring, only one side in the division has scored less then the seventeen they've managed so far this season.
Slimani's agent Chokry Yousfi is quoted by Portuguese newspaper Record today as confirming interest in the player "The interest in Slimani is serious. Several clubs have already spoken with me and Sporting."
It's hard to know if Cardiff are still interested and his agent appears keen to talk up a move. Slimani may have a very good international record but he'd surely be a gamble for Solskjær and Cardiff.
Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:13 pm