Por: Inside The World Cup
Islam Slimani is a striker in demand, and Sporting Lisbon will struggle to hold on to him if he impresses for Algeria in Brazil
This article is part of the Guardian’s World Cup 2014 Experts’ Network, a co-operation between 32 of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for the finals in Brazil. theguardian.com is running previews from four countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 12 June.
Finding a net used to be beyond Islam Slimani. When the Sporing Lisbon striker was a youngster growing up in the western Algiers suburb of Ain Bénian, he could afford neither a net nor a rod so he and his friends used to go to sit on the rocks near the pretty local port and fish with plastic bottles tied to pieces of string. Now he is a catch that clubs in the biggest leagues in the world are trying to hook.
West Ham and Crystal Palace have already made enquiries about prising the 25-year-old from Sporting, where he has a contract until 2017. He has come a long way since he started as a teenage amateur for WBAB in his hometown, in the fifth tier of Algerian football. He impressed enough there to be recruited by third-division JSM Chéraga, spending several months in the youth team before his goalscoring exploits convinced management to give him his debut for the senior team: that decision was emphatically vindicated as he finished the season with 18 goals. It was time for another step up: in 2009, CR Belouizdad paid £7,000 to bring him to the top-flight.
Slimani took time to adapt to the demands of life at the hugely popular club in the capital city but by his second season he had established himself as a regular in the team, finishing with a respectable tally of 10 goals. In May 2011 he scored in an incredible 7-1 victory over JS Kabylie. His constant movement and formidable aerial prowess earned him nationwide acclaim.
He won his first cap for Algeria in May 2012, coming on as a second-half substitute in the 3-0 home victory over Niger. A week later he scored his first international goal, an expert header that helped Algeria to a 4-0 win over Rwanda in a World Cup qualifier. That goal appeared to give the player an infusion of confidence and also endeared him further to the national team manager, Vahid Halilhodzic, who has made Slimani a fixture of the side ever since. His international tally now stands at nine goals from 18 appearances.
Slimani became sought after by clubs in Europe, especially as he became available for free after he won a contract dispute with CRB. The player claimed that the club had reneged on a commitment to provide him with an apartment and the Algerian Football Federation found in his favour. The player was thus granted the right to terminate his contract and consider offers from elsewhere. He seemed set to sign for Nantes in Ligue 1 but Sporting then came in with a better proposal and, in August 2013, he joined the Portuguese side.
He began the season as a substitute for Sporting but soon acquired a reputation for making an impact off the bench. By March he had displaced Fredy Montero as the club’s first-choice striker and justified that decision by hitting four goals in four games, including the winner against Porto.
There is still scope for Slimani to improve. His concentration has been questioned in Algeria ever since an erratic display in the qualifiers against Mali, when he squandered a host of chances, but since moving to Portugal he has shown definite signs of progress and increasing maturity. He used to be a hot-head who attracted copious bookings for dissent and stupid fouls, but such behaviour is seldom seen from him now, a development for which Halilhodzic deserves some of the credit, as the national team manager has worked hard to help the player improve that aspect of his game. Voted Algerian player of the year in 2013, Slimani is expected to pose plenty of problems to rival defences in Brazil.