Riyad finally gone

[That_Dude]

8 hours ago, theessexfox said:

New signing in 'complimentary about new club' shocker. He says nothing of the sort anyway, doesn't even mention us - whoever compared some Leicester fans to bitter ex-girlfriends was spot on. He was great for us and he's left for a bigger club, that's what happens in football. 

 

Spot on.

[Mickyblueeyes]

Perception is an interesting thing. I’ve read some of the transcripts from his press conference and his comments on Maguire, I don’t find them offensive at all. 

 

He left City to go to a club who are building to win the champions league - that is a correct statement. He left one that isn’t - again correct.

 

He may have implied his ambition to win the champions league would not have been fulfilled here at Leicester - again correct. 

 

He said his mate and ex team mate deserves to play at the highest possible level - I agree with that. Than may have implied City are not at the highest level - again true. We barely made the top 10 last year. 

 

Mahrez is a bit like marmite for some fans.  He gave us some great moments and we gave him a platform. It was a great story. Thanks Riyad and best of luck.

 

[Bazly]

Too many sensitive souls here. Mahrez did add to his comment which many reporters missed out (deliberately I'd guess) 'but Leicester is a good club'. 

 

LC aren't one of the top 10 clubs in Europe so there will always be a bigger club to move onto. LC is probably one of the top 20 clubs in Europe which is why we have no problem attracting and retaining our Championship level players but always will have problems retaining our developed World class players. 

[CloudFox]

I fell hook, line and sinker for the headline about his Maguire comments initially, but when you actually read his comments, they're perfectly reasonable:

 

“Of course he deserves to play higher but Leicester are a good club as well, so let’s see. He’ll have to decide.”

 

That, my fellow foxes, sounds like an answer to a leading question. And he's responded by saying that Maguire is a great player, is understandably worthy of playing on the biggest stage, but reminding the reporter that Leicester are a good club as well. He's not dismissing or diminishing us.

 

It entirely depends on how you read him saying 'but'.

Edited 13 July 2018 by CloudFox

[ithuriel]

He is gone, move on, I'm more interested in how the new signings are going to be.

[Countryfox]

13 minutes ago, CloudFox said:

I fell hook, line and sinker for the headline about his Maguire comments initially, but when you actually read his comments, they're perfectly reasonable:

 

“Of course he deserves to play higher ...

 

Sorry, but he is saying that a player we have just bought and has signed a long term contract, someone we would like to BUILD a team around DESERVES to to play for a higher (better) club ...    no, he can just fvck right off.  Even if he thinks that, why say it ...   why ????? ....   the sour little dick is still angry cus of how he thinks we treated him ..   badly !! ..  in his opinion.    He has disrupted us once and he will no doubt do it again.      Gary Silke summed it up quite nicely in the Mercury today ...   "When I'm in an armchair in an old peoples home, I hope its the wing wizard who could pass through defenders like a ghost that i'll remember, not the sulky little bloke who seemed to think he was being held hostage by a club that plucked him from nowhere and made him world famous" ...   I honestly hope and wish I will think the former but ..   can probably guess it will be the latter. 

[ramaiya2]

Finally

 

No more tantrums when things don't go his way

[That_Dude]

1 hour ago, CloudFox said:

I fell hook, line and sinker for the headline about his Maguire comments initially, but when you actually read his comments, they're perfectly reasonable:

 

“Of course he deserves to play higher but Leicester are a good club as well, so let’s see. He’ll have to decide.”

 

That, my fellow foxes, sounds like an answer to a leading question. And he's responded by saying that Maguire is a great player, is understandably worthy of playing on the biggest stage, but reminding the reporter that Leicester are a good club as well. He's not dismissing or diminishing us.

 

It entirely depends on how you read him saying 'but'.

 

For some it has to fit the narrative of a disloyal, sulky t**t who has been carried by the team the last two seasons. So yeah, he's mocking us and trying to unsettle our best defender. 

 

Nothing he stated is any way offensive or untrue, unless one wants to split hair and search for some reason to talk shit about him. There are bigger clubs than ours and they indeed play at a higher level. We aim to be one of them and we might achieve that in a couple of seasons, but for the moment we aren't. And make no mistake Maguire is bound to leave us at some point. Same goes for Ndidi.

 

For all his mistakes and sometimes questionable behavior, he still was one of our greatest players and our first PFA ever. The lenghts some fans are going to belittle everything he did here and tarnish his memories are nothing short of pathetic. That's probably the same who were constantly bashing him for every bad performance, saying he wasn't that good, that no club of the top 6 would come for him, but still wanted 90M to sell him.

 

I have yet to see another player with his talent and who has been so many times a game changer getting that much of vitriol on this forum.

Edited 13 July 2018 by That_Dude

[wokinghamfox]

Lets start another RM thread and call it 'RM first week at Man City and how it has gone'. Who gives a t...!! about him! 

[420Hashish]

Some reporters for some reason left out the 'but Leicester is a good club' part. I've read 4 articles and haven't seen that mentioned once until I saw a link here.

 

What can you do? Media is media. They show you stuff and they hide from you stuff.

 

[TonyN11]

Seems that Mahrez has been mouthing off suggesting that Harry Maguire should be playing for a bigger club.  Fvck off Riyad!

[Dames]

Techinically he's not wrong in what he says - We sit in the tier below the top level wether we like it or not. He made the effort to remind the reporter that he sees us as a good club in which he was under no obligation to do so.

 

Realistically Maguire is good enough to play for any of the top clubs in Europe - Lets hope he decides to stay with us for the near future.

Edited 13 July 2018 by Dames

[MC Prussian]

People read too much into it. Let's not forget that Riyad is not that fluent in English, his language skills are basic and he still struggles for words when pushed for an answer or he reverts to platitudes.

 

Maguire's enjoyed a fantastic World Cup in France, and it's only logical to link him with another, "bigger" club. The Top Six will always try to weaken the remaining opposition by trying to lure the best players away, with Manchester City being a prime example.

[messerschmitt]

Does anyone know if there was a sell on clause? can easily see him having a fantastic season and Man city selling him for £150 million

[CollinsLCFC]

5 minutes ago, messerschmitt said:

Does anyone know if there was a sell on clause? can easily see him having a fantastic season and Man city selling him for £150 million

Yeah, knowing Rudkin, we will have to pay Man City 15% of what he sells for.

[Pete from the USA]

4 hours ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Perception is an interesting thing. I’ve read some of the transcripts from his press conference and his comments on Maguire, I don’t find them offensive at all. 

 

He left City to go to a club who are building to win the champions league - that is a correct statement. He left one that isn’t - again correct.

 

He may have implied his ambition to win the champions league would not have been fulfilled here at Leicester - again correct. 

 

He said his mate and ex team mate deserves to play at the highest possible level - I agree with that. Than may have implied City are not at the highest level - again true. We barely made the top 10 last year. 

 

Mahrez is a bit like marmite for some fans.  He gave us some great moments and we gave him a platform. It was a great story. Thanks Riyad and best of luck.

 

I totally object to the idea that clubs have "levels". 

 

Leicester were not at the highest position in the table last season. But if they win more games, they could finish at the top again.

 

There is no cosmological roster in which every football club sits at some immutable "level". This is defeatest, 16th century thinking.

 

Leicester are a wealthy club and a global brand. They need to hold onto Maguire and other top players by giving them fat contracts, Leicester need to try to win the league again, and Mahrez needs to go f&#k himself and his levels.

[Wizerud]

Which one of you guys wrote this? ?

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/riyad-mahrez-manchester-city-signing-leicester-pep-guardiola-latest-updates-a8445861.html

[Mickyblueeyes]

34 minutes ago, Pete from the USA said:

I totally object to the idea that clubs have "levels". 

 

Leicester were not at the highest position in the table last season. But if they win more games, they could finish at the top again.

 

There is no cosmological roster in which every football club sits at some immutable "level". This is defeatest, 16th century thinking.

 

Leicester are a wealthy club and a global brand. They need to hold onto Maguire and other top players by giving them fat contracts, Leicester need to try to win the league again, and Mahrez needs to go f&#k himself and his levels.

I actually agree with you that no one has set level. Man City were a nothing club 10/12 years ago before they came into Arab money. 

 

However, the club though it has spent a considerable sum in the last 3/4 years has been run like a small club. Mahrez just about gave us TWO years that’s four transfer windows all of which came after an unprecedented title win. Who did we sign that would suggest to him that we are “champions league” quality? Ndidi maybe? Maguire ? I think Silva will come good. Iborra offers valued experience and Kelechi is another one I think we’ll be purring over. Please add whoever else to that list that you would like. 

 

In general though, we’ve put out a rolls Royce image with a fiat engine (nothing wrong with Fiats but it’s lesser level). 

 

These players can get fat contracts anywhere. Professionally, while some may be happy with a comfort zone, most in life are not. In my professional career I’ve made the jump to a bigger company on a few occasions. How can I begrudge Riyad doing the same. 

 

At this moment in time and for for the foreseeable future, we are light years behind Man City. It’s fact. The club needs to progress rather quickly to become a sustained and successful “big club”.

 

He paid his dues. We have given him a platform. Neither side owes the other one anything. 

[Bert]

I don't really know why people are getting wound up. It's inevitable that Maguire is going to leave for bigger and better things. We all pretty much know that and anyone that thinks otherwise is daft. Notice also most seem to leave out the fact that Riyad has said that we are a great club. 

 

Mahrez will have been directly asked the question as well. It's not like he's just come out and said that. 

[MC Prussian]

2 hours ago, Wizerud said:

Which one of you guys wrote this? ?

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/riyad-mahrez-manchester-city-signing-leicester-pep-guardiola-latest-updates-a8445861.html

Ah, Jonathan Lieuw... We‘ve had our fair share of quarrels with the guy over the years, haven‘t we?

 

We‘re not the 14th-richest club in the World, FFS! Why continue carrying that urban myth across the globe?

Edited 13 July 2018 by MC Prussian

[urban.spaceman]

Quote

Riyad Mahrez, another talented schmuck scooped up by Manchester City just for the sake of it

 

For the Premier League champions, Mahrez is the eighth sports car in your driveway, the gold leaf monogram on your Bottega Veneta suitcase, the extra pepperoni on your triple-pepperoni pizza

• Jonathan Liew Chief Sports Writer 
• @jonathanliew 
• 32 minutes ago 
• 4 comments

A small crowd had gathered outside the main entrance of the Etihad Stadium to watch the unveiling of Riyad Mahrez as a Manchester City player. It consisted of several selfie-hunting kids, roughly the same number of patient parents, a shirtless bloke who wanted Mahrez to autograph his back, and a pair of terrifying-looking furry aliens called Moonchester and Moonbeam dressed neck to toe in box-fresh Nike, who were either City’s official club mascots or the visitations of a particularly lurid cheese nightmare that were visible to me and me alone. It wouldn’t be the first time. For days I’ve been trying to convince friends and family that I saw Harry Maguire playing in central defence for England at the World Cup. “Yes, of course he is,” they replied. Ever get the feeling you’re being gaslit by your loved ones?

If the existence of Moonchester and Moonbeam remains largely conjecture, then Mahrez’s arrival at the Etihad feels real enough. A transfer that somehow feels like it has been in gestation since towards the end of the Paleolithic Age – when Mahrez himself was just a glint in Wyscout’s eye – Mahrez to City marks the latest minor milestone in an era where the biggest clubs are not merely giants but predators, not merely bright stars but black holes, with a gravitational field from which not even the world’s 14th-richest club can escape.

 

The first thing to be said here is that City don’t need Mahrez. They might think they do, but they don’t really. They might argue that he fills some essential, gaping flaw in their collective front-five skillset that somehow Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Leroy Sane, Kevin de Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan don’t already address. They might even, at a boardroom level, explain how the signing of the club’s first Arabic-speaking superstar (and it’s telling that his first interview with the club website was shown with Arabic subtitles) is a perfect synergy with the brand’s MENA marketing strategy, and produce the graphs to prove it.

 

But when you boil it down, the only reason City are really signing Mahrez is because they can. It’s the eighth sports car in your driveway, it’s the gold leaf monogram on your Bottega Veneta suitcase, it’s ordering extra pepperoni on your triple-pepperoni pizza. And that’s why, even if this is just one of hundreds of examples of big clubs picking off the best talent from lower down the chain, this transfer feels particularly wanton, particularly gratuitous, the footballing equivalent of raising both middle fingers to the neighbours, just so they can see the rose gold rings you’re wearing on each.

 

For his part, Mahrez might think he needs City, but even then: not that much. He may try and rationalise it as ambition, upward mobility, self-improvement, the chance to help the team and win trophies, the things your agent tells you to say in press conferences. And there’s no question that the view of Pep Guardiola’s high-pressing amusement park from beyond its gilded gates must look terribly alluring. Presumably this is why he agitated so hard for a move in January: if you can’t beat them, go on strike until the club to which you are contracted for another two years lets you join them.

Riyad Mahrez is unveiled as a Manchester City player (PA)

But whatever he goes on to win at City won’t remotely compare to the scale and the satisfaction of what he achieved at Leicester, where he was a major part of the most unlikely title-winning campaign in the history of English football. His legacy there is already secure. And for all the rancour over his departure, the reaction among Leicester fans has been impressively mature, although his comments about Maguire in his opening press conference (“He deserves to play higher, but Leicester is a good club as well”) may not have been the best start. Mahrez was a god at Leicester. Now he’s just another talented schmuck warming the padded car seats of the superclub subs bench, hoping people notice him.

 

Of course, you will argue, this is just the way football is these days, and naturally you’re right. Nobody seriously expects a player of Mahrez’s talent to spurn a big move to a big club, a hefty pay rise, the opportunity to work with the most dynamic coach in the world. Nobody seriously expects a club of City’s ambition to pass up an opportunity to cement their dominance of English football, to weaken a rival, to supplement their already enviable array of attacking options. It would just be nice every once in a while if this wasn’t the case. But then, maybe that’s just the cheese talking.

9

Pretty much my thoughts to be honest.

[Col city fan]

5 hours ago, wokinghamfox said:

Lets start another RM thread and call it 'RM first week at Man City and how it has gone'. Who gives a t...!! about him! 

Some of the nerds on here will follow Riyad’s every move since joining Man City. They’ll report back with gusto and bore us all to tears with reports of average ratings and how he’s had more kicks this week than Demarai Grey etc.

It’ll happen. You watch..

 

[foxinsocks]

This is greys big chance.... i hope he has a team of coaches arround him to make sure he kicks on to a new level

 

This is diabates big chance.... i hope he has a team of coaches arround him to make sure he kicks on to a new level

 

Who's your money on?

[old koppite]

1 hour ago, MC Prussian said:

Ah, Jonathan Lieuw... We‘ve had our fair share of quarrels with the guy over the yesrs, haven‘t we?

 

We‘re not the 14th-richest club in the World, FFS! Why continue carrying that urban myth across the globe?

 

But he regards us as a “rival “. Wow. Don’t know anything about him as a journo, but makes me feel proud/ smug! 

[st albans fox]

2 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

This is greys big chance.... i hope he has a team of coaches arround him to make sure he kicks on to a new level

 

This is diabates big chance.... i hope he has a team of coaches arround him to make sure he kicks on to a new level

 

Who's your money on?

neither ......................