I respect Mahrez ..what’s wrong with showing ambition to play at highest possible level?
RIYAD MAHREZ will be in turmoil after being denied his dream move to Manchester City – and I don’t blame him.
No disrespect to Leicester, who are entitled to hold Mahrez to his contract, but he has outgrown them.
Are they ever going to win the title again? No – and they won’t win a trophy of any kind if they keep picking weakened teams in the cup competitions.
Are they ever going to offer him Champions League football again? Probably not.
Do they have much to gain from keeping a disaffected player at the club? Not in my opinion.
Mahrez has seen N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater leave for Chelsea, his Algerian compatriot Islam Slimani loaned to Newcastle and Jamie Vardy nearly join Arsenal before turning them down.
He has seen other star players being allowed to fly the nest for good money – so why are Leicester demanding a king’s ransom for him?
A move to the Etihad Stadium would almost guarantee him more trophies, possibly including the Champions League, and a chance to play for Pep Guardiola, arguably the best coach on the planet.
He was a snip at £460,000 and after everything he has done for Leicester surely there comes a point where it is churlish to stand in the way of his ambition. What sort of mentality is he going to have for the rest of the season? Leicester will not finish in the top four and will not go down, so I don’t understand why they were not prepared to let him go for the £60million City were believed to be offering.
Is £59.5m not a big enough profit to make on a player who was a huge part in delivering that title miracle in 2016? In my opinion, Mahrez is worth £75m – but if he wants to go he is only worth as much as Leicester can get for him.
There is talk of him being fined for failing to show up for training, but I know – from personal experience – how galling it can be when your heart lies elsewhere in football.
When I wanted to leave Birmingham for Blackburn, I caused havoc when I didn’t get my way at first. I’m not proud of my behaviour – I was smashing balls away in training, knocking on doors, being sent home, an all-round nuisance – but I never downed tools.
Even when made to play for the reserves, I applied myself in a professional manner in games although it came to a point, away at Newcastle, where I was only at 95 per cent. That was the end for me and my manager Steve Bruce, and I got my way. Had I been denied my move, I would never have forgiven Bruce. So what does Mahrez do next? He could tell Leicester he will knuckle down to the end of the season, as required by the terms of his employment, in return for the Foxes promising to revisit his contract in the summer.
Many players have a stipulated buy-out clause. One option might be for club and player to agree the trigger – somewhere around £50m, nothing outrageous.
If Leicester refuse, he could make excuses about injury, illness, burn-out, family problems or anxiety.
I have heard and seen all of those – because I resorted to many of them myself. It is a smarter way of withdrawing labour than simply saying he will never kick another ball for the club.
I had a month to make my move to Blackburn happen – but Mahrez had only a few days. Had Manchester City registered interest earlier in January, I suspect they would have struck a deal well inside the deadline.
Even now, when Leicester look at the bigger picture, surely they will have to concede Mahrez has been an unbelievably good player for them... but it is time to let him fulfil his potential. Will Mahrez be shunned in the dressing room by his team-mates? I doubt it. My best guess is he will be welcomed back with open arms by the players – probably with a generous helping of banter on the training ground.
It will be interesting to see if he loses the plot. It shows how unsettling a transfer window can be: One minute your star player is right at the top of his game, the next his head is all over the place when the champions-elect bid for him.
It could destroy Mahrez mentally if Man City look elsewhere in the summer and he never gets another opportunity to play for them.
As a player, you have to be selfish sometimes. When West Ham had a problem with Dimitri Payet last season, it turned out to be in everyone’s best interests that he was sold.
He was never going to be of much use to them while he was tossing and turning at night, and sulking every day in training.
And in the case of Mahrez, I see no benefit in keeping a player who may only go through the motions.
Playing for Pep in the Champions League, or winning the title, will make him keep raising the bar instead of being stuck in a comfort zone with Leicester in mid-table.
What’s wrong with ambition and wanting to play at the highest possible level?
I respect Mahrez for that – and hope he will be given the chance to make his dreams come true.