Algeria international Islam Slimani has revealed that English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur were interested in signing him last season.
The tall striker was really good during his loan spell at French Ligue 1 giants AS Monaco. He was on loan at the club from former Premier League champions Leicester City.
Slimani disclosed that he received a phone call from the freshly sacked Spurs manager Jose Mourinho, who was in charge of Tottenham at the time.
Mourinho was recently dismissed by Tottenham due to a poor run of results in the Premier League that sees them languishing in 7th in the league, outside European qualification at the moment.
Slimani has already moved on and is now playing for another Ligue 1 giant – Olympique Lyonnais.
“At the start, I was the typical scorer. I changed my way of playing a bit in Turkey (2018-2019, in Fenerbahce), where I had to drop out to get balls,” Slimani told L’Equipe.
“And then with Wissam (Ben Yedder) in Monaco (2019-2020), it worked well like that too, even if (Robert) Moreno (the coach, arrived in December 2019) chose to only play with a striker last year, so to put me on the bench.’
“Mourinho then called me at this time for Tottenham. It is a form of reward. You tell yourself that some see your efforts.”
Slimani has struggled for form at Lyon this season having scored just twice in 15 appearances in Ligue 1.
However, the 32-year-old has 70 international caps for the Desert Foxes and has scored 31 goals, making him Algeria’s second-highest all-time goalscorer.
