AdminRiyad Mahrez has revealed how close he came to leaving Leicester City F.C. after their unforgettable Premier League title-winning campaign in 2016, admitting that several European giants showed serious interest in signing him.
Mahrez played a central role in Leicester’s historic triumph and was later named PFA Player of the Year after producing one of the finest individual seasons in Premier League history.
His performances quickly attracted attention from some of the biggest clubs in Europe, including Arsenal F.C., Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona.
“No, I mean, when I finished best player of the league, I didn’t go directly. Because obviously, Leicester wanted to keep me.
And they were asking for a lot of money. I was close to joining Arsenal at that time. I spoke with a lot of teams like Madrid, Barcelona.”
Mahrez also explained how his contract situation complicated any potential move away from the King Power Stadium, especially compared to former teammate N’Golo Kanté.
“And what N’Golo did is like when he signed, he put a clause in his contract of 30 million. So when I’m in Leicester, when we won the league, before we won the league, I just signed. That year, I signed my new contract in August.
They asked me to put a clause of 30 million. I said no, because I’m thinking, what are you talking about? We just saved ourselves in the last second. You want now 30 million clause? I was like no, 15.
I was like 15, not 30. If I signed that clause, I would have gone everywhere. I would have gone like Madrid and that, you know?”
Admin
