Mahrez wants to play for a top-six side, says Leicester boss

 

Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare has revealed Riyad Mahrez wants to leave to join one of the Premier League’s top-six sides this summer.

 

Mahrez told Leicester at the end of last season that he wants to leave the club this summer and the Foxes are now demanding £50m for the Algeria international, who only signed a new deal last summer.

 

Serie A giants Roma have had two bids for Mahrez rejected in recent weeks and are now believed to have shelved their interest in favour of Real Madrid forward Lucas Vazquez.

 

Mahrez’s preference is to remain in England after missing out on the chance of securing a dream move to Barcelona and Shakespeare has revealed he will stay at the club if none of the top-six come forward with a suitable offer.

 

“He wants to play for a top-six club,” The Daily Mail quote Shakespeare as saying. “If we don’t get an offer from a top-six club, he stays. If that offer comes in and it’s not enough, he stays.

 

“It is quite clear for me at the moment, he has made that statement but he is our player. I picked him for 60 minutes, he performed. Is it doing my head in? It’s part and parcel of the transfer window. If you let it, it can affect you. But my job is to make sure the players are focused on every training session and every game.”

 

 

Only Wilfried Zaha (211) and Eden Hazard (171) have been fouled more times than Mahrez (147) in the last two Premier League campaigns.