Manchester City end interest in Riyad Mahrez

Manchester City have ended interest in signing Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City after failing to come to terms with Leicester City over a fee.

Manchester City have ended their interest in signing Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez for what would have been a new transfer record fee for the league leaders, according to reports coming through. City have been looking for a new winger since the summer to be able to rotate with Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane, with City attempting to sign Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal but also backed out of any deal to sign the Chilean this month after refusing to compete with rivals Manchester United to sign him.

After an injury to Sane in City’s FA Cup game against Cardiff City that will see him be out of action for the next six weeks at most, City have tried to speed up the process by targeting Leicester City’s Mahrez.

Mahrez has been attempting to push through the move with him handing in a written transfer request along with skipping training and not travelling with the team to Goodison Park for Leicester’s game against Everton. Manchester City have had four bids rejected by Leicester for the winger, going up as high as £65 million plus a player in exchange and with the deadline on the transfer window coming up, City do not see a way to get the deal done before the window closes. Leicester have reportedly demanded a fee of £95m which City have refused to accept.

What happens next will be interesting for all sides. Manchester City will not have enough time to complete any deal for another player to replace Mahrez so they will have to make do with what they have – likely playing Bernardo Silva on the wing in place of Sane until he returns from injury.

With Mahrez, the way he has handled this entire move will likely to annoy both fans and players, with his team mates reportedly already upset at the way he has his handled this move. Mahrez did win the Player of the Year award back in 2016 when Leicester City won the Premier League against all odds and has been regularly linked with a move away from the King Power Stadium with moves to Arsenal, Roma, Liverpool and now Manchester City.

He did have a poor season last year but has regained his magnificent form under new manager Claude Puel but whether he gets back into the Leicester City team now and whether Manchester City will approach Mahrez again in the summer will be very interesting.

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