LEICESTER & BURNLEY WE’RE COMING TO GET YOU
Everton not looking at Europe as Mangala sets his sights on finishing above Foxes and Clarets
ELIAQUIM MANGALA admits Everton’s high hopes for the season have been scaled down – and they are now just hoping to finish above Burnley and Leicester.
Former Goodison boss Ronald Koeman was allowed to spend around £120million in the summer on big-money recruits like Gylfi Sigurdsson, Michael Keane, Jordan Pickford and Davy Klaassen.
The Blues got back around £85m from the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United, but Koeman’s spree was still a statement of intent – and the plan was to challenge for Europe.
But the Dutchman paid the price for his signings’ failure to make an impact and was sacked in October.
New manager Sam Allardyce made three major moves in the January window – Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun coming in on permanent deals along with Mangala on loan from Manchester City. The France defender endured a nightmare debut at Arsenal, but still believes Everton can make up ground on the top six and catch the likes of Burnley and Leicester.
Mangala said: “The challenge will be difficult, but I think we can finish in front of Leicester and Burnley and that will be a good end to the season. I just want to help my team get better and have good results.
“It’s not just about me, it’s the whole team. That’s the only thing I’m focused on. Then we’ll see what happens at the end of the season.”
Mid-table rivals Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez crisis deepened last night with his national coach telling him he “deserves better” than the Foxes. The winger did not turn up for training on Thursday or Friday last week and missed the defeat at Everton and Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Swansea after his proposed move to Manchester City collapsed.
Mahrez handed in a transfer request in a bid to push through a move to the Etihad and claimed he was left “depressed” by Leicester’s decision not to accept City’s player-plus-cash offer worth an estimated £65m.
Algeria boss Rabah Madjer said: “Mahrez currently deserves better than Leicester. But we must not forget it was Leicester who put him on the right track.
“A serious conversation with his board is needed. He wants to go to a bigger club in the English league. I do not know what really happened about his transfer.
“Me, I advise him to resume training and work hard, even if the transfer has not been resolved.”