Leicester City touch a nerve over transfer fee, asking price is ‘a joke’

 

Italian journalist Paolo Franci wasn’t very happy when reading the latest news on AS Roma’s chase for Riyad Mahrez. Rumours have said that after rejecting a €30m bid, Leicester City would be demanding €46m, a price which Franci believes to be ‘a joke’.

In a story on Calcio Mercato, the journalist starts by taking quotes from the Roma director Eusebio Di Francesco saying people must teach values to children, as if in some way holding Leicester’s Mahrez asking price responsible for societal issues.

Franci points out that Mahrez is already 26 years of age, only had one great season in a ‘team of heroes’ under Claudio Ranieri, and never proved himself to be worth all that money at a top club.

Then Mahrez is compared to other Roma targets who could be worth all that money, but never the Algerian midfielder. Calcio Mercato is a website that generally feeds rumours of big deals, so it’s quite funny to see such a rant about an asking price.

Leicester City have clearly touched a nerve.