Norwich City transfers: Anis Ben Slimane's Canaries journey

The Tunisian international came to Carrow Road with minimal excitement surrounding his signing, Sheffield United supporters' tepid reviews and links with Real Madrid's Reinier dampening any initial enthusiasm.

He had long been sporting director Ben Knapper's first choice in midfield, but that mattered little to those keen on glitz and glamour from the latest in a rapid-fire list of arrivals.

But in the 92nd minute of Saturday's Coventry meeting, with City desperate to hold onto a 1-0 lead at the CBS Arena and the hosts charging toward their half, Slimane had the opportunity to instantly prove his mettle to his new public.

In one rather macho and less-than graceful move he wiped out Sky Blues attacker Ephron Mason-Clark, receiving a yellow card and the instant diagnosis as the solution to Norwich's midfield issues.

It was decided he'd bring the size, physicality and athleticism that's been lacking since Oliver Skipp's departure, and that he negated the need for a more traditional 'number six'.

It might come as a shock, then, that Slimane's career was nearly over before it started because he was too small.

City fans have taken to the Tunisian's physicality (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

"In those years when you're 12 or 13 and all the players begin to grow and become faster and become even better, I didn't grow very much and I could feel that on the pitch," he said. "I entered a period where things were really, really hard.

"I didn't get any playing time, the others got better than I was, and I was a frustrated young kid who was used to everything being easy for me. Suddenly it turned upside down."

His solution was to go in search of game time elsewhere, becoming a journeyman of sorts in the Danish academy system. He spent time at Kjøbenhavns and Lyngby before eventually settling at Akademisk, the club where Johannes Hoff Thorup had both played and coached.

"I switched to Copenhagen and was told four months later that I could not be used in their squad," he recalled on a documentary about his career called Against All Odds. "So I had to find a new place. I changed to Lyngby, where I didn't get much game time either.

"I thought from there that I had to take a step down. I went to AB (Akademisk), where I could get my confidence back. I could work hard without there being much focus on me.

"When I was very small there was a lot of focus on me, like 'Anis, Anis, Anis'. I think people had seen me play against Ajax as a 12-year-old. But I had to take a step down, and that was the best choice for me."

Slimane's performances at AB earned him a return to Brondby, the club he'd originally left due to those size issues, and before long he was a mainstay in their first team. "It was an absolutely indescribable feeling," he told official club channels of his debut. "It's something I've been looking forward to for so many years, so it was a huge dream come true."

From there he didn't look back, playing 121 games for Brondby before sealing a £4million move to the Blades. Reported bust-ups and late training appearances painted the picture of a highly imperfect talent in Denmark, but on the pitch he did the business.

"He is technically gifted, a fine passer of the ball and has a strong physique," Danish journalist Sebastian Stanbury told The Star of Slimane just before that United move. "For some time it has been obvious that both he and Brondby were looking for a sale."

The 23-year-old's struggles in his Bramall Lane spell are well documented, and there's a reason the Blades let him join Championship rivals on transfer deadline day.

But often recruitment is about matching players with clubs, matching strengths with styles. This is a man used to overcoming adversity, and if the nous of his fouling is anything to go by, he could well do that again in yellow and green.