As you will undoubtedly know by now, Manchester City will not be signing Riyad Mahrez despite various attempts to do so on Wednesday.
Depending on who you believe, Pep Guardiola’s side placed four bids, each increasing in value, for the Algeria international until the Foxes turned around and asked for a deal of around £95m to be presented to them in order to change their mind.
As you can imagine, Manchester City baulked at their demands and put an end to their interest.
During that time, Riyad Mahrez put in his (insert number here)th transfer request, and even went AWOL on Wednesday as he made it clear he wanted the move.
On the other side of the Channel, France Football’s Nabil Djellit revealed what the mood was like in the player’s camp after news reached them no deal would happen, and they aren’t happy with Leicester City.
Pas de #ManchesterCity pour #Mahrez. Énorme déception pour le joueur comme nous le confie un de ces proches : “#City a proposé 70 M€, record de #City et record pour #Leicester. #Mahrez a été professionnel durant 4 ans et le club n’a pas respecté ses engagements envers lui”… pic.twitter.com/IxqPAEhgdl
— Nabil Djellit (@Nabil_djellit) January 31, 2018
A source close to the player is quoted as saying: “Manchester City offered €70m, what would be a record buy for them and a record sale for Leicester. Mahrez has been professional for four years, and the club hasn’t honoured its commitments towards him.”
The amount quoted there backs up TuttoMercatoWeb’s claims from earlier, which came around the same time the English press were talking about a bid of £65m + a player.
The details don’t really matter anymore, as the deal isn’t happening, but this must be tough for Mahrez, who will just need to soldier on after yet another transfer deadline day disappointment.
