Riyad Mahrez is set to move to English champions Manchester City from Leicester for a reported fee of £60million ($79million) seven months after the Foxes turned down an offer from City, according to British media reports on Tuesday.
Mahrez had come to Leicester from French side Le Havre for just £400,000 in 2014. He sat out two matches following Leicester's demanding £80million for him. It declined a £50million offer plus young winger Patrick Roberts from City during the January transfer window.
However, both Press Association Sport and Sky Sports report that with Leicester having signed James Maddison from Norwich City for £24million they are now willing to sell him.
Leicester has allowed him extra time off since Mahrez went off on international duty in June.
Mahrez along with striker Jamie Vardy and French midfielder N'Golo Kante became unlikely household names during the title winning season, as Italian manager Claudio Ranieri engineered one of the greatest sporting surprises of all time. Mahrez scored 17 goals in that campaign.
He had also played a major role in the club reaching the Champions League quarter finals in 2016/17 by netting four goals.
Serie A side AS Roma came after him last summer but was left frustrated as several offers (with the highest reportedly £32million) fell well short of Leicester's expectations.
Manchester City has also been linked with Napoli midfielder Jorginho. The Italy international has been reportedly left out of their pre-season training camp squad.
Comments
SHARE