From eating frozen pizza to a €31 million Premier League move

Many still remember Islam Slimani for his thunderous performances in a Sporting Lisbon shirt. What's often forgotten is how the Algerian striker arrived in Portugal: as a complete nobody on the European stage.

Slimani was already 25 when Sporting took a gamble on him in 2013, paying €300,000 for a player known only back home in Algeria. Few imagined that this quiet transfer would turn into one of the club's smartest deals of the decade.

Fast forward to the 2015/16 season: Slimani was terrorising Primeira Liga defences, scoring 27 goals and finishing among the league's top scorers. Just 18 months later, Leicester City paid a staggering €31 million for him.

On the pitch, it was a fairy tale. Off it… not quite.

Slimani has now revealed that his early days in Lisbon were marked by confusion, loneliness, and a truly bizarre diet.

"When I arrived in Lisbon, I was always hungry,” he recalled in an interview with YouTuber Colin Dikano. "My life was simple: training, home, frozen Margherita pizza. I swear, it's true. Frozen pizza at noon. If there were no pizza, I would eat instant noodles. Every single day. For a year."

Sometimes, the menu got even stranger.

"Margarine and tuna were often my lunch. In the afternoon, I'd sleep or drink coffee. Whatever I couldn't finish, I saved for dinner… or for the next day."

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It's a miracle nothing went wrong with his health, and Slimani himself admits it sounds surreal. But he does have an explanation.

"I never went to restaurants. I didn't know how to cook. Do you know what the worst part was? At the training centre, lunch was provided every day, and I didn't even know it. I was so frustrated, I just wanted to go straight home. Nobody ever asked me why I wasn't eating."

It was a harsh adjustment period for a player who had never left Algeria and Africa before. New country, new culture, new language...

"I came from my country to Portugal. I didn't speak Portuguese or English. I understood a bit of French and Arabic. I talked a lot with Adrien Silva because he spoke French, but he had his own life. I tried to learn some Portuguese every day. On top of that, my paperwork from my former club was delayed. I kept asking myself: 'What have I done?' It was really hard."

Frozen pizza, instant noodles, and eventually, goals worth millions. Islam Slimani's Lisbon story proves that even the unlikeliest beginnings can lead to extraordinary endings.