Arsenal are closing in on a move for Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez despite recent reports stating that he will join Chelsea, as per Gazzetta World.
The 25-year-old only cost Leicester £400,000 from Le Havre in January 2014 and is now proving to be one of the best bargain deal in the Premier League history, despite a slow start to his Foxes career.
The Algerian will likely leave Leicester City this summer, following the footsteps of ex-teammate N’Golo Kante who left for Chelsea last week.
The report from Gazzetta World states that the winger is likely to join the North London club despite reports on Twitter claiming that Chelsea are on the brink of wrapping up a deal for the Foxes man.
In a recent interview Leicester boss, Claudio Ranieri claimed that the Algerian is expected to stay at the King Power but now the report reveals that it is a mere tactic from the manager to pressurize the player into staying.
Earlier this week a Tweet showed photos of Chelsea’s new kit with Mahrez’s name on it, but only for other Twitter users to confirm that the photos from Adidas’ UK website were fake.
https://twitter.com/Chelseaolic/status/756994420478730240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Reports in Sky Sports, Leicester City’s owners, and officials will meet in Los Angeles on Monday to discuss the future of striker Riyad Mahrez, who has been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal in recent days.
An exodus was expected after Leicester City won the title last season due to their financial incapability in comparison to the English clubs causing it. Jamie Vardy was all set to begin it but eventually agreed to a new contract with Leicester instead of joining Arsenal after his release clause was activated.
Nevertheless, N’Golo Kante kick-started what had been anticipated to be the inevitable, when he left for Chelsea on a £32m deal. Riyad Mahrez is all set to add fuel to the fire, with reports earlier saying that he has agreed to join Arsenal.
Mahrez has been outstanding last season and was rightly adjudged the PFA player of the year. Although the winger trailed Vardy in the goal scoring charts, he was the engine of the foxes title run. He will definitely bring in the much needed proficiency in the attack, but is he really the one Arsenal need.
We already have enough people on the wings and although the Algerian might bring in a cutting edge but will that be enough to overhaul the deficiency of a striker upfront. There are other options like playing Sanchez upfront and playing Mahrez on the wings.
However, from what we have seen of the Chilean last season it is evident that he is best suited on the wings and moving him from there won’t do any good. So, my preference would be to sign a striker and if they can’t find one, then try out Mahrez.
