This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Nottingham Forest are reportedly interested in bringing Algerian striker Islam Slimani back to the Premier League, according to Portuguese publication Record's live transfer blog on June 1.
Record claim that due to disciplinary reasons, the 33-year-old will not be in Sporting's squad next season, despite only signing for the Lisbon-based side from Lyon back in January.
And Forest, off the back of their Championship play-off final victory over Huddersfield Town - which secured their spot in the top flight of English football for the first time since 1999 - are said to be one of a number of clubs looking at bringing the former Leicester City forward to their club this summer.
It is a move that FLW's Forest fan pundit Des Oldham is against, believing that there are better options out there for Steve Cooper to strengthen his front-line with.
"Personally, I wouldn't sign Slimani," Des said.
"His record in the Premier League is not great, and whilst he's scored goals at other clubs, I'm not sure Steve Cooper will be looking for a near 34-year-old unproven (Premier League player) to complement what we have.
"He likes to nurture talent, so I'd expect him to utilise the loan market and bring in a younger, more hungry talent to complement what we already have."
The Verdict
Slimani would definitely not fit into the transfer structure that CEO Dane Murphy was looking to create when he arrived last summer - nor would he appear to be a Steve Cooper player.
There has been a mix of youth and experience arrive at the City Ground since Murphy and Cooper's arrivals, with older players like Steve Cook brought in as a much-needed asset to help shore up the defence.
Despite scoring goals for clubs around Europe since his days at Leicester, Slimani would be a backwards step for Forest - especially as he's coming to the latter years of his career.
Even if Forest are priced out of a move for Keinan Davis by Aston Villa, there are still far better options out there than Slimani.