Mahrez joins Manchester City for £60m

2016 African footballer of the Year, Riyad Mahrez has joined Manchester City after he signed a five-year contract, and has opted to take the number 26 shirt.

Leicester City were paid £60m – a Man City record fee – for the Algerian winger, and he becomes coach Pep Guardiola’s first signing this summer.

27-year-old Mahrez handed in a transfer request in January, but he was denied a move as City were put off by the player’s valuation.

Mahrez however stayed at the club, scoring 12 league goals in 36 games as the Foxes finished ninth in the Premier League.

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The £60m fee exceeds the £57m they paid Atletico Madrid for defender Aymeric Laporte in January.

Mahrez joined Leicester from Le Havre for £400,000 in 2014, and was named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year during their surprise Premier League triumph in 2015-16.

While at Leicester, he scored 48 goals (39 in the Premier League alone) in 179 appearances, and was an integral part of their 2016 success.

In the four seasons, he created 27 goals.

And acording to stats lifted from the BBC, since Mahrez made his Premier League debut in 2014, only eight players – Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Eriksen, Jamie Vardy, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane – have been involved in more goals.

 

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