Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez has opened up on exactly what happened in January.
The Premier League giants came in for the Algerian during the January window, with Mahrez also keen on a move to the Etihad Stadium. However understandably, as the club’s standout player, Leicester were not keen on letting him go.
After blocking a move, Mahrez went missing from training and was fined numerous times by the club drawing heavy criticism from all sides. However, the 27-year-old has since come out to clear up the situation and explain things from his point of view as he goes about rebuilding his reputation.
Mahrez described the period as a ‘difficult’ time, explaining that his decision to stay away from training was to allow him to get things straight in his own head, praising Leicester and his teammates for their handling of the situation.
“I was away from [Leicester] because I needed some time to think, it was a difficult situation,” Mahrez told SkySports.
“You’ll always have regrets but at that time I thought it was the best thing to do.
“It was difficult, I’ve always been in contact with the club. The club handled it very well. When the team-mates and the club were behind me it was OK, it was very easy to come back here.”
The Algerian is now solely focused on helping his side in the remaining games of the season, but declined to comment on his future, insisting he will not make speak on his decision until the end of the current campaign.
“In football players come, players leave, I’m not saying I’m coming or going,” he added, “We always talk between me and the club, everything is good, so we will see in the summer if things come. At the moment I’m a Leicester player.”
So far, Mahrez has bagged nearly 50 goals for the Foxes in 169 appearances and has a Championship and Premier League medal to his name.
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