Riyad reflects on Leicester

[Mickyblueeyes]

Riyad Mahrez

 

Nice comments from Riyad. I also can’t understand how a player like him gets booed by a minority of fans. 
 

Don’t show up today please.

[davieG]

6 minutes ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Riyad Mahrez

 

Nice comments from Riyad. I also can’t understand how a player like him gets booed by a minority of fans. 
 

Don’t show up today please.

Probably because he's also said some horrible things about LCFC. 

 

Not that I'm one that boos.

[TrentFox]

Boooooooooooooooooo

[Fox92]

"stint" is a bit of a joke. Nice one Sky.

[sheffield_fox]

Didn't he say we blocked his development? 

 

Obviously a legend for us but the wantaway attitude, tantrums and negative comments did, unfortunately, sour the memory a bit.

 

I also seem to remember him playing out his skin to score against us. 

 

Gotta love him but he doesnt make it easy. 

[UniFox21]

One of the best players I've watched for us and just in general. But surely he can see why he's been booed when he's quoted saying things such as "he'd wasted 2 years at Leicester" and other digs at us. 

 

 

Two quotes from the article: 

 

"I wanted to leave very good, but the club didn't want to let me go nicely. They wanted to send me for too much [money], and at the end if it was difficult to leave it wasn't my fault."

 

This for me makes him appear a touch naive, of course the club wants to sell for the best possible fee and he'd signed a new contract not too long before that. Didn't he also refuse to play for a little?

 

 

"People might think he forced to leave, I didn't force, I just wanted to leave and it was difficult. That's the explanation of this."

 

And here he would be sat in airport departure lounges waiting to leave. 

 

 

Brilliant player, but the way he left has dimmed his legacy a touch. Still a legend of our club however. 

[Sly]

21 minutes ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Riyad Mahrez

 

Nice comments from Riyad. I also can’t understand how a player like him gets booed by a minority of fans. 
 

Don’t show up today please.

Riyad and N’Golo are amongst my favourite Leicester players of all time. 
 

I fully understand why they wanted to go and wished them well. The fact people boo Riyad, I find totally odd as well. The likes of Maguire I understand, as he contributed hardly anything in relation to the squad of 15/16.
 

 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

2 minutes ago, sheffield_fox said:

Didn't he say we blocked his development? 

 

Obviously a legend for us but the wantaway attitude, tantrums and negative comments did, unfortunately, sour the memory a bit.

 

I also seem to remember him playing out his skin to score against us. 

 

Gotta love him but he doesnt make it easy. 

He's played out of his skin and scored against lots of clubs. It's his job.

[Ashley]

36 minutes ago, davieG said:

Probably because he's also said some horrible things about LCFC. 

 

Not that I'm one that boos.

Were they horrible or some home truths which fans are finally starting to realise now? 

 

Especially the comment regarding our Squad Depth. Its true. We wasn't equipped for Champions League and the Premier League with that squad.

[BraunstoneFox23]

He’s a willy puller but honestly I think the fact we got 4 years out of a world class player trumps anything he’s had to say about the club and that. I hope we can keep him quiet this afternoon  

[Jobyfox]

Personally I’ve always found the boo-ing a bit moronic. For me the title winning team get a bit of a free pass. 

 

I honestly think a team like us need to keep our best players or hold out for silly fees if we have to let them go. So we did nothing wrong on this and ideally Mahrez should appreciate that. He sees football in this binary big club/little club way that many in the industry do. Not like the way us fans do. 

 

It’s a bit like the old adage of never meeting your heroes. Just because he was an amazing player for us doesn’t mean that he is or isn’t a tw@. But his pivotal role in our greatest moments should override everything else 

[East Langton Fox]

Wagamamas in the Highcross. Christmas 2015, I was with my kids. A murmur goes around, Mahrez is here with what looks like his sister and his girlfriend. I ask him for a picture with my kids. He pulls a face and it takes some doing, He doesn’t look very happy in the picture. Not a big deal but the kids could see it and I remember it.
it reminded me of that old adage. Never meet your heroes.

 

[Lionator]

7 minutes ago, East Langton Fox said:

Wagamamas in the Highcross. Christmas 2015, I was with my kids. A murmur goes around, Mahrez is here with what looks like his sister and his girlfriend. I ask him for a picture with my kids. He pulls a face and it takes some doing, He doesn’t look very happy in the picture. Not a big deal but the kids could see it and I remember it.
it reminded me of that old adage. Never meet your heroes.

 

He was out for food with his family, maybe he didn't want to be disturbed. Nothing wrong with that imo, there's a time and place.

[dannythefox]

1 hour ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Riyad Mahrez

 

Nice comments from Riyad. I also can’t understand how a player like him gets booed by a minority of fans. 
 

Don’t show up today please.

Be struggling to show up we can’t even get in the ground and him going on strike and throwing a strop gives every fan the right to boo him if they wish. 

[Aus Fox]

Never been a fan of booing former players, unless they did something stupid like trying to chip a penalty in a playoff semi final shoot out or tried to bankrupt the club after we sacked them.

For everyone else remember the joy they brought you, and few gave us more joy than Mahrez. 
We as a supporter base appear to enjoy a good boo. Not sure what it achieves and makes us look disrespectful.

Personally I have only joined in with the boo boys for a handful of players Wise, Mattock, Kermogant and Savage - although Savage I went to the game he first played against us for Birmingham and applauded his name as it was read out before kick off and as he came over near us prematch. 10 minutes in and he was winding our players up, kissing the badge and generally being himself.

 

[shailen]

He is hands down the best player imo that has ever played for us. If he was still a Leicester player I think more people will agree with that.

 

He was the best player in our title winning season and gave us another season after that before making any grumblings about leaving. I don't begrudge him for leaving when Kante, Drinkwater, Chilwell and Maguire wanted the same thing but their exits were a lot more straight forward as the club knew how exceptional an asset Mahrez was so tried to keep him as long as possible. I'd wonder how the other four would have reacted had they been told they couldn't leave. 

 

If we were in a position to offer Mahrez European football then every season he may have stayed but we weren't and he left to advance his career. No bad feelings at all. 

[foxes_rule1978]

44 minutes ago, Sly said:

Riyad and N’Golo are amongst my favourite Leicester players of all time. 
 

I fully understand why they wanted to go and wished them well. The fact people boo Riyad, I find totally odd as well. The likes of Maguire I understand, as he contributed hardly anything in relation to the squad of 15/16.
 

 

It isn’t the fact he wanted to leave to a bigger club, it is the way he went about it that people don’t like. He was waiting at airports, anyway he is a great player and good to see him say something nice about the club. 

[davieG]

22 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Were they horrible or some home truths which fans are finally starting to realise now? 

 

Especially the comment regarding our Squad Depth. Its true. We wasn't equipped for Champions League and the Premier League with that squad.

After he signed a new contract

Quote

 

The winger was keen to seal a move away from the King Power Stadium after his exploits that season, but Leicester stood firm and kept hold of him for the subsequent campaign.

Mahrez even spent 2017/18 as a Leicester player, before joining Manchester City in July of last year.

And the former Fox has spoken of his frustration at failing to leave Leicester earlier in his career, as well as revealing that Arsenal almost prised him away from the East Midlands three years ago.

"After the title, if I had left for a top team, it would not have been the same story," he told France Football. 

"For me, it’s clear that I lost two years at the highest level. I lost two years! Because instead of arriving at City at 27, I could have been there at 24, 25.

“Leicester blocked me [from moving]. They told me: ‘You’re not leaving, you’re not leaving’.

"My agent had spoken to [Arsene] Wenger, who really wanted me. It was nearly all done with Arsenal in 2016. I was really frustrated. It wasn’t easy to go from being the best player in the Premier League to being a part of a team fighting against relegation. It’s not the same job. Everyone is waiting for you around the corner."

Mahrez has made eight Premier League appearances for City this term, but he was not involved in Sunday's 3-1 defeat by title rivals Liverpool at Anfield.

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/riyad-mahrez-leicester-arsenal-says-he-lost-two-years-and-reveals-how-close-he-came-joining

 

Perhaps that was the time to reflect on this....

Quote

 

Mahrez joined Leicester in 2014 from Le Havre as a relatively unknown 21-year-old, but he was soon transformed into one of the Premier League's top players.

"Leicester gave me everything, and obviously it's because of them that I am where I am now, and what I achieved. It's part of my career, and I cannot thank them enough.

"Vichai [Srivaddhanaprabha] was very special to me. When I see Leicester I still see him. Very important club and very important people in my heart."

 

You can't have one without the other.

[East Langton Fox]

But I would add to my last post that he was a great player and was with us long enough and contributed enough to be revered. A little more grace and humility would have been nice though. 

[Finnegan]

We've got some weird fans. 

[Mickyblueeyes]

21 minutes ago, dannythefox said:

Be struggling to show up we can’t even get in the ground and him going on strike and throwing a strop gives every fan the right to boo him if they wish. 

Lol. I was telling Riyad not to show up.

[South Shire Fox]

Legend. Although i wish someone would explain to him that some of our mongos booed him for saying he wasted two years here so he could clear that up.

[ALC Fox]

A footballer's career is short. He's 29 now and we haven't been in the Champions League again since he was 26.

 

If he was still playing for us, we would have stood a better chance of making the Champions League and winning the league again but the overwhelming probability is that we still would have done neither (with, perhaps, the exception of last season).

 

Footballer's careers and the fortunes and statuses of football clubs move at different paces. So I don't begrudge him wanting to leave one bit. He had a chance of earning way more money than we could offer him, picking up multiple trophies, and working with one of the world's greatest coaches, if not the greatest.

 

He's still the most ridiculously talented player I've seen play for us, too. Some of the things he was able to do were just majestic. Watching opposition defenders not know how to deal with him was incredible. They knew what they had to do (show him onto his right foot) but they couldn't do it. They were powerless.

 

But, it is the way he forced himself out that slightly taints my view of him. We wanted more money for Maguire but Harry didn't resort to the kind of behaviour that Mahrez did. We're all different, I suppose, and Mahrez did stay here for a lot longer than he wanted, but the lead-up to his departure could've been handled with more humility from his end.

 

In short, I still love Mahrez the player. When he's retired and a coach, pundit, famous personality, or whatever, he'll still be one of The Immortals. He'll be the most talented player in the side that won our first ever title and we'll never forget him for that. The first will always be the most special, something we're extremely fortunate as fans to have experienced.

[deejdeej]

The fans that were booing Mahrez were very likely the same fans that were calling him a lazy b*****d or calling him shit when a bit of skill didn't come off when he was playing for us. We're a strange group.

[AKCJ]

Don't have a problem with him going to Man City. 

 

Do have a problem with him trying to force the clubs hand on deadline day and coming out saying he wasted time with us.

 

Don't boo him like I would with genuine ex-City helmets but I don't clap him like I would for other ex-City title winners.

 

Ultimately he's the most talented footballer I've ever seen wear our colours and I wish he still played for us.