Riyad Mahrez

[kaz7]

Pep on Mahrez: "We tried to do it in the summertime, we tried to do it now, but like summer, they locked the door and we can go to the summer and holidays. It was not possible. With Laporte yes, with the other one no. We are going to see what happens in the summer."

for everyone saying we just rocked up on deadline day,the work was done in the summer

 

[hgblue]

Not getting a replacement is part of it, the timing was rubbish for us. But it's about letting people know you go on OUR terms, not Man City's, not the players.

I'm only saying £45m in case he sulks and performs shit for the rest of the season. The decision to make a stand could cost us money on this deal, I'm sure the club are away of that. But, If he continues to play well, then I expect no less than what I think the club would have realistically accepted, which was £75m.

I can't see how either club has done anything wrong, we offered what we believe he's worth and Leicester refused to sell for less than their valuation, fair enough.

 

[ONTHERUNWITHTHAKSIN]

Can't see us returning for him in the summer

This was his chance I feel to join and it has passed.

Leicester rightly pay his wages and he signed the contract so he needs to get on with what he is paid to do

As for us we move on

 

[Blue Llama]

Can't see us returning for him in the summer

This was his chance I feel to join and it has passed.

Leicester rightly pay his wages and he signed the contract so he needs to get on with what he is paid to do

As for us we move on

Mahrez is a great player and would be a positive addition to City but having tried twice to get him this particular opportunity could be long gone for him by next July. Its a shame for him as he would have been guaranteed another League winners medal and who knows what else this season. Come the summer to be fair to him City should make another inquiry but there could be better value out there and possibly within City if our EDS come up with an alternative option.

 

[johnnytapia]

Leicester are misguided to take Coutinho fee as the benchmark for Mahrez valuation; similarities are goals from outside the box, otherwise Coutinho brings plenty more meat to the table. Mahrez useful in a specific scenario - quick counters, which I am guessing is the reason Pep wants him, would be impressive on one wing and Sane on the other wing. We don't need Coutinho type skills - plenty of those at City already. And given < 5 teams attack us in PL, Mahrez would only be a squad player. Could permanently replace Sterling when we play Liverpool, also good against Arsenal, Spurs and that's it really.

Stats showing Mahrez has more goals/assists than Coutinho are not that useful really - Sterling has more goals than KDB yet it's indisputable KDB's value to the team is much higher because of his global impact on matches.

So £60m-£65m is fair price for Mahrez. Barca overpaid for Coutinho but really who were they going to get to replace Iniesta? Liverpool overpaid for VVD in the same way we "overpaid" for Ederson.

Mahrez brings to the table what very few players (including Coutinho) have: a league winner's medal. That alone, adds a few mill to his fee.

 

[aguero93:20]

Transfermarkt has him at 27m gbp. It is not the transfer bible but it is pretty representative. I do not think our offer could be considered a low ball by any stretch. For perspective they have Laporte valued at 25m euro.

If you get a bidding war going in summer though who knows what you will get.

Transfermarkt are awful, they seem to think that the actual transfer market doesn't exist.

 

[SilverFox2]

The reports suggest you never even offer £60m cash.

You could be right, City have previous for bidding up to their maximum valuation of a player, we walked away from Sanchez so it should come as no surprise to LFC when we left the table.
Your value seems to value at maximum current prices ours is internal salary structure valuation so LFC got what they engineered so to blame City for not paying top price seems a little wrong to me.
Having said that how did not for sale suddenly get a price ?

 

[Healdplace]

My guess Pep was really talking about Fred there as the player they tried to get last Summer and now.

We were not going to be going all out for both Sanchez and Mahrez surely last Summer? There was no hint of that.

The first time any hints suggesting Mahrez surfaced are the shock PL name winger that came up in ITK and some medias reports after Sanchez signed for United.

So we might have had a watching brief but it was only a week or two ago this was on the radar and initially for Summer. It only accelerated because of the extended injuries to Jesus and Sane and Pep's quite legitimate fear that the way referees are acting we could have no forwards fit by the next few weeks.

I hope too that they can do a deal now for the Summer and settle the players mind.

I have doubts though as it looks like we really did take seriously their £95 million valuation and there just is no way we would have paid or will pay that for either Mahrez or Sanchez.

What other clubs do in desperation is up to them but we have a clear policy on transfer fee ceilings right now and around £70 million is currently it.

Pep said as much last night and that one day we might be able to afford more but not now and he applauds us not pushing the fees up for the sake of it. Because that will kill clubs like Leicester if even average players start costing £50 m

They should actually be agreeing with our stance here and whilst I do not blame them for trying to maximise profit there is a bigger long term picture that we are seeing and they are not.

 

[San Tropez]

Mahrez brings to the table what very few players (including Coutinho) have: a league winner's medal. That alone, adds a few mill to his fee.

Not sure I follow your logic.

Mahrez would certainly strengthen us further, there would be incredible attacking variation.

 

[Mid Wales blue]

Pep on Mahrez: "We tried to do it in the summertime, we tried to do it now, but like summer, they locked the door and we can go to the summer and holidays. It was not possible. With Laporte yes, with the other one no. We are going to see what happens in the summer."

for everyone saying we just rocked up on deadline day,the work was done in the summer

Do you think he might have been thinking of Fred, when he replied “we are going to see what happens in the summer”