Sunday 24 July 2016

Claudio Ranieri Practically Confirms Riyad Mahrez Is Off, To Arsenal Maybe?


According to reports from France, Arsenal have agreed personal terms with Riyad Mahrez and should the Gunners be able to reach an agreement with Leicester City on a transfer fee, the Algerian will be playing in Arsenal's colours next season. Although the Mirror, Daily Mail and other British media outlets have reported Arsenal's interest, none of them are confident enough to say personal terms have been agreed.

However, during an interview yesterday, Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri practically confirmed the player could be off. To Arsenal? Maybe. The Italian was quoted as saying;

"Did you see how Riyad is happy? He played so well, worked so hard for the team, he scored a goal and he stays with us," Ranieri said. 

"It is very important [to keep him] he is one of our stars.

"Other teams maybe have more stars and maybe he doesn't play at the same level, because maybe is on the bench so it is much better he stays with me."


That to me sounds like a statement of a manager begging his player to stay after a bid from a big club. Ranieri was, just three weeks ago, very confident the African will play for Leicester City, but yesterday it sounded like he was begging the Algerian to stay using scaremonger tactics to convince him his future lies with Leicester City.

Could it be because the rumours linking him to Arsenal are true? Maybe Mahrez has made it clear he wants to leave and Ranieri is merely trying to convince him to stay at Leicester City?

After saying, "he stays with us" he went further, adding: "It is important to keep him". This means it is not certain that he will stay and Ranieri even went further to tell Mahrez that with Leicester City he has a chance of regular first-team football, which will not be so certain with other clubs. If he was so confident that Mahrez will stay, why would he say so much? Additionally, Ranieri's comments could backfire, as they are disrespectful to the talents of Mahrez.


Personally, I think we have a very good chance of signing Mahrez. The player, judging by indications, is willing to leave Leicester City, so whether we get the PFA player of the year for last season depends on how quick and decisive we are. With United focused on signing Pogba and Chelsea not really in need of the Algerian, if Arsenal move quickly enough and are willing to pay the asking price in 2016 and forget about 2006 player valuations, Mahrez could be playing for us next season.


8 comments:

  1. that statement doesn't mean anything. If he leaves he'll go to Chelsea

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  2. We should try to get Mahrez( very good player) for maximum 40m pounds & reserve some for Lukaku & top centre back . Some of the money we should get from sales of Walcott, Gibbs, Sanogo, Gnabry ,etc .

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  3. Ranieri knows to assess Mahrez price tag but not his wage. For a fee about £45m+ Leicester has to raise his wage minimum to £140.000/w.
    The whole world knows that Mahrez is currently on a meagre £35,000 at Leicester, which is ridiculous considering the role he played in their Premier League title win.
    Mahrez isn't happy at Leicester.
    If Leicester raises its price tag more it will be forced to raise his wage. In case Leister wants to give him a wage of peanuts, he will not sign. Regardless of signing another club, the main thing is that he leaves Leister. Saw how he was exploited, he is no longer happy, they are
    Sorry for the fans but officials haven't deserved neither he nor Kanté.
    Sorry for the fans!! They are the only ones to be grateful to him.


    ReplyDelete
  4. Ranieri knows to assess Mahrez price tag but not his wage. For a fee about £45m+ Leicester has to raise his wage minimum to £140.000/w.
    The whole world knows that Mahrez is currently on a meagre £35,000 at Leicester, which is ridiculous considering the role he played in their Premier League title win.
    Mahrez isn't happy at Leicester.
    If Leicester raises its price tag more it will be forced to raise his wage. In case Leister wants to give him a wage of peanuts, he will not sign. Regardless of signing another club, the main thing is that he leaves Leister. Saw how he was exploited, he is no longer happy, they are
    Sorry for the fans but officials haven't deserved neither he nor Kanté.
    Sorry for the fans!! They are the only ones to be grateful to him.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a load of utter garbage, he looks pretty contented, he hasn't rejected a new contract at Leicester, despite reports to the contrary, and Leicester can also pay him substantial wages. As Vardy showed Mahrez doesn't have to jump ship yet and when he does it will probably be to Barcalona.
      ps - please learn to spell Leicester correctly

      Delete
  5. Your story smacks of desperation!

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  6. He's French of Algerian decent and plays for Algeria. Let's not confuse. Like we wouldn't call Sterling Jamaican now would we?

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  7. How could he resist the impending haul of trophies if he joins Arsenal, 4th place medal in EPL, last 16 Champ league medal, FA cup semi final medal, why he'd be simply mad to turn away from this veritable gong fest.

    ReplyDelete