Claudio Ranieri has no qualms about handing Islam Slimani his Leicester City debut despite him having not yet linked up with his team-mates.
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Leicester’s record signing Islam Slimani is set to be thrown in at the deep end by Claudio Ranieri against Liverpool on Saturday.
The Premier League champions agreed a €30million deal with Sporting CP to sign the Algeria global, who agreed a five-year deal at the King Power Stadium.
The former Sporting Lisbon star was on global duty with Algeria on Sunday in a 6-0 win over Lesotho, a game where his Foxes teammate Riyhad Mahrez stuck twice, but Claudio Ranieri expects him to be ready for the visit of Jurgen Klopp’s side.
“Slimani arrives this evening or tomorrow morning”. I didn’t see him but I will speak with him. He is available for Saturday, but… You have to fight and say: ‘Hey, Sam, I am ready to play’.
The Premier League champions will be hoping to build upon their 2-1 win over Swansea City before the global break.
“He cost a lot of money but if you see the market it’s a insane market”. I’m very happy [with the transfer window]. I was happy before, now we have a big, talented player.
“It is important when a player changes country that he has to adapt and keep calm”.
Ranieri has also been boosted with goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel declaring himself fit – just a week after a hernia operation.
On Schmeichel, Ranieri added: ‘He is ready to play.
Klopp has a variety of options to select from for Liverpool’s first Anfield outing of 2016/17, but so does Ranieri, particularly in attack. “He was a good buy for us”. “We have the chance to go straight away on the counterattack”. We are the champions.
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However, we prefer Leicester to pick up at least a point at 2.35 as they’re a far more consistent side under Ranieri than Liverpool are under Klopp.
