Leicester City striker Islam Slimani joined Newcastle on loan in one of deadline day’s final deals.
Here’s the Algerian on why he chose the Magpies, despite interest from other clubs, including West Ham.
“It’s a great thing for me and for Newcastle,” Slimani told the club’s official website. “I’m happy to be here. Hopefully I can come here and be able to give them a hand.
“Knowing the power of the fans and crowd here and how great they are, and also speaking to the manager, it gave me the confidence that this was the right choice.”
Rafa Benitez:
“Slimani is a player with experience in the Premier league, and obviously we were looking for that.
“He is a player who can fight with defenders, challenge and score goals. Hopefully he can give us some experience and some different characteristics to the strikers that we have at the moment.”