RAFA BENITEZ is convinced loan signing Islam Slimani represents value for money despite being set to cost Newcastle at least £200,000 per game.

The Algerian international is yet to make his debut after sitting out the last two matches with a thigh injury since arriving in a deadline day deal from Leicester City until the end of the season.

Newcastle paid a loan fee in the region of £2m for the 29-year-old, who has scored just one Premier League goal this term. Given Slimani is ineligible for the trip to face the Foxes at the start of April, the imposing forward has a maximum of 10 games to repay the faith in him shown by the Spaniard.

Benitez decided to err on the side of caution by not including the new arrival in the squad which secured a vital 1-0 victory over Manchester United to climb out of the relegation zone and up to 13th in a congested bottom half of the table.

It gives Slimani the best part of a fortnight to work on building up his fitness for when Newcastle return to action against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on February 24. Benitez's side have scored just 25 goals in 27 games, and the manager said: "Islam is fine, but still he was feeling this thigh a little bit. It's now a question of waiting because we have a decent gap before the next game so we can keep working with him.”

Slimani will be under pressure to emulate the impressive immediate impact made by fellow January arrivals Kenedy, the Chelsea loan midfielder and Slovakian international keeper Martin Dubravka, who produced a man-of-the-match debut display against Jose Mourinho's side to help secure a first home win in the league since October.

Supporters perhaps shouldn't expect too much too soon, as by the time Newcastle travel to the South Coast to face Eddie Howe's side, it will be more than five weeks' since the forward's last appearance, and almost two months since he featured in the Premier League, when scoring in the 3-0 New Year's Day victory over Huddersfield. His other four goals this season have all arrived in the EFL Cup.

Leicester paid a club record £28m in August 2016 to land Slimani from Portuguese side Sporting, where he boasted an impressive scoring record of 57 goals in 109 games during a prolific three-year stay in Lisbon.

He will wear the number 13 shirt at Newcastle, and revealed he is keen to secure a permanent move to the North-East and with it the coveted number nine jersey currently sported by Dwight Gayle if he can prove himself in the remaining three months of the campaign.

That would see Newcastle have to smash their 12-and-a-half-year-old club record transfer fee, the £16m they paid Real Madrid for Michael Owen, and Benitez is confident his most high-profile transfer window arrival will prove his worth amidst the mounting pressure of the battle to avoid relegation.

The manager added: "For Leicester to have paid so much money for him tells you something. I've watched him for a long time both in this country and in Portugal and he's a strong player who is good in the air and just as importantly he knows the Premier League. He makes good runs and he's got a bit of everything to his game which will help us."