Mahrez promises to give his all to Foxes

Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez has ended his self-imposed exile by returning to training and says “presumptions” about his absence are “totally without foundation”.

The 26-year-old had not trained with his team-mates since Manchester City launched a bid to sign him at the end of the January transfer window, but returned to the pitch yesterday.

The sequence of events came after the Foxes blocked what would have been a dream move to the Premier League leaders for Mahrez, and he has subsequently missed the games against Everton and Swansea.

Leicester announced yesterday that Mahrez was back in action, and he then released a statement of his own to add clarity to the situation.

“Over the past 10 days many people claiming to be my friend have spoken about me and things they know nothing about,” he said.

“Off the back of that many people and journalists have made assumptions without properly checking the story, so I would like to clarify that all those so-called assumptions of why I was absent are completely untrue.

“Myself nor my advisers have ever made any statements about that so all presumptions made are totally without foundation.”

It remains to be seen if Mahrez’s return to the first-team picture will see him in action today against, of all teams, Manchester City.

Mahrez put in a transfer request in order to try to force a move to City.

It was his second attempt at trying to leave the King Power Stadium after also handing in a transfer request at the end of the 2016-17 season, with Leicester then rejecting a bid from Roma.

Meanwhile John Stones is available again for Premier League leaders City in the clash with the Foxes.

The England centre-back has missed City’s last two games due to first illness and then a minor knee problem.

Riyad Mahrez saw a transfer window move to Man City break down.