Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri is confident that PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez will stay with the 2015/16 Premier League champions amid rumours of a potential move to Arsenal.
Leicester City were crowned Premier League champions last season and winger Riyad Mahrez played a pivotal role in the Foxes’ title winning campaign that left all pundits and fans astounded. The Algerian was in devastating form and was rightly named the PFA Player of the Year. The winger’s pace, trickery and sublime finishing has seen him attract a lot of interest from top clubs across Europe this summer.
Barcelona have always been on the lookout for clever attacking players who can turn things around in the blink of an eye, and it was quite ominous for the Foxes that Mahrez was strongly linked with a move to the La Liga champions. The Catalan giants reportedly withdrew their interest, with Chelsea being the new front-runners for the player’s signature. Manchester City were also linked with a move for Mahrez but latest reports have linked the winger with a €50m move to Arsenal.
Manager Claudio Ranieri was asked after the friendly win against Celtic in the International Champions Cup about the chances of Mahrez staying at the club despite strong reports linking him with a move to Arsenal.
“I’m confident, of course,” Ranieri said to the reporters, as per ESPN. The Italian was asked why Mahrez was substituted in the latter stages of the game, to which he replied: “I changed him at last because I said ‘okay, his job is done, it’s better to avoid injury.”
The Foxes’ captain Wes Morgan went on to praise the Algerian superstar as he scored his side’s only goal in regulation time with a fine dribble culminating in a beautiful curled effort into the top corner.
“That’s what he’s all about, he can score something out of nothing,” said Morgan.
The Leicester manager seems confident of Riyad Mahrez resisting interest from other Premier League clubs and staying with the Foxes to help them defend their crown. It is looking more and more likely that N’Golo Kante could be the only big departure from the champions this summer.
