Riyad Mahrez

[murphy]

1 minute ago, Ric Flair said:

Is it the most difficult position to buy? I don't agree, we just seem to struggle to recruit successful strikers and wingers since we've been in the PL. Our record is atrocious and yet midfielders and defenders it's phenomenal. 

Yeah, I think so.  Everyone wants one, they tend to cost big money and how many wingers coming into the PL have pulled up any trees.  Where is West Ham's Andersen now?   Others that were high up on our wish list like Pepe, Ziyech and Sarr haven't done a great deal imo (apart from Pepe beasting Thomas in our last game).  I'm sure there are others.  

[Ric Flair]

2 minutes ago, murphy said:

Yeah, I think so.  Everyone wants one, they tend to cost big money and how many wingers coming into the PL have pulled up any trees.  Where is West Ham's Andersen now?   Others that were high up on our wish list like Pepe, Ziyech and Sarr haven't done a great deal imo (apart from Pepe beasting Thomas in our last game).  I'm sure there are others.  

Plenty do well as well though.

 

Raphinha

Jota

Bowen

Harrison

Lookman

James Rodriguez

 

All have 10+ goal contributions in their 1st season in the PL with their new club

[Basildon Fox]

5 hours ago, Bert said:

Everyone saying they don’t miss him... There’s not one fan that can actively say they wouldn’t have him back here unless they’re just bitter. 

While you may be right about having him back for his football ability I think you will find he seems more bitter than us. The bloke tried to bully his way out of the club by refusing to play then has stated we halted his career somehow.  Perhaps if he had bothered to put a bit more effort in the last season and a half he played for us, we may have been a lot higher in the table.

 

He is quite clearly a knob of the highest order.

[murphy]

Is Jota a winger?  I'll give you Raphinha,

 

I think 10+ goal contributions is an absolute minimum requirement (ie goals and assists).  Perez did that last year.  Barnes has 20 or so. this year.

 

I think they're thin on the ground and don't seem to travel well from European leagues.  We need another Barnes.  Clone Barnes.

 

 

 

 

[Frank Large's Black Book]

Leave it Ricky… She ain’t worth it!

 

Seriously, he's not.

 

[ian__marshall]

Great player in my opinion. I have no issues with the whining, it's what great player's do and in his case I'm not entirely convinced it's innate, more so encouraged by external forces. As frustrating as it is to see such shenanigans it's all forgotten the moment he digs you out of a hole. Unless money was no object, I'm not sure I'd have him back at this stage though (not that I wouldn't like to see him in this team). He'd cost a lot and wouldn't have any resale value so doesn't really fit with our ethos. I actually think the people around him outside of football have shaped his personality quite a bit as time has gone by which is a shame as I think early on he was quite a humble chap. 

 

On the subject of AMR's I do think we missed a trick in not going after Bowen. Put up great numbers in the Championship and hasn't looked out of place in the Prem. I think there's player's out there so hopefully we'll get it right soon. 

Edited 9 April 2021 by ian__marshall

[Corky]

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Had we not sold Mahrez we possibly wouldn't have signed Maddison, Ricardo and Soyuncu. So I don't tend wish we'd kept him. 

He'd gone- he didn't want to be here. I think this was the team he'd love to play in but it has come too late.

[Mythyaar]

Incredibly ungrateful, entitled behaviour and unlike his serene play on the field, classless.

 

I was at Goodison when he boycotted the game that night. We were utterly wretched, EFC were abysmal at the time, but with your star man going on strike a few hours earlier you can totally understand why.

[cruzFOX]

Mahrez needs to chill. He should be grateful for all the good things that have happened for him. The road to his success may have taken twists and turns he didn’t plan for but that’s how it goes he’s done pretty well for himself.

oh he’s convenient forgotten that he wanted Barca to come get him but they didn’t even make an offer! He would be a nobody without leicester. It was fate we came together.

Mahrez will always be a legend like the others from the title winning team and his partnership with Vardy was magical. I hope he matures and reflects back on his Leicester tenure more kindly in the future.

[Stadt]

He’s just not very bright, is he? 

[Guest ttfn]

Best first touch in world football

[Heymister2015]

If he ever has anything nice to say about leicester, there’s always a but! He’s not a club legend, he’s an ungrateful knob tbh. Leicester weren’t fighting off even Carlisle United for his signature. He was going no where in his career. His best achievement will always be that title with leicester. No one wins league a title with small clubs and he had that. Winning what he’s won since is easy when you have 20 players on £200k + a week playing around you.  

[SouthStandUpperTier]

2 hours ago, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

While you may be right about having him back for his football ability I think you will find he seems more bitter than us. The bloke tried to bully his way out of the club by refusing to play then has stated we halted his career somehow.  Perhaps if he had bothered to put a bit more effort in the last season and a half he played for us, we may have been a lot higher in the table.

 

He is quite clearly a knob of the highest order.

Or you could flip that statement on its head. How low would we have finished in his last season without his 12 goals and 10 assists? Especially when you consider our other wing options were Albrighton, Gray and Diabate. 

 

People say he didn't try, but I personally don't think you can half-arse your way to 12 goals and 10 assists, no matter how talented you are. People also point to his defending, but I think they are confusing not being very good at something with not trying.

 

I'm always slightly bemused at how triggered some of our fans get at the mere mention of Mahrez. It was a win-win for both Mahrez and Leicester City. We helped turn a £450,000 Ligue 2 player into a world star, and in return he contributed massively to the greatest moments in the club's history. And his sale helped us to build the squad we have now.

 

It's sad that he seemingly doesn't appear to have much affection for us, and he was a prat for going AWOL (although I think that was as much to do with the bad advice he got from the idiots he had representing him). But I'm over it. I feel absolutely no malice towards him and still enjoy watching him play, and he's one of only a few non-Leicester players I can actually say that about.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

19 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

It's sad that he seemingly doesn't appear to have much affection for us

I think he does have affection for us and he certainly did for Vichai.

He wanted to test himself at a higher level than us - which you can understand - he's not a Leicester fan and probably didn't know much about us before arriving but he'd certainly know about the 'top teams'.

Imagine if we went to play for a second tier team in France, got promoted, won the league then the likes of PSG came calling - we'd probably want to go there.

Just trying to look at it from a balanced perspective.

Despite the mardy arse stuff he was a bloody joy to watch, the most skilful player we've (arguably) ever had.

[MPH]

3 hours ago, Frank Large's Black Book said:

Leave it Ricky… She ain’t worth it!

 

Seriously, he's not.

 

 

Well, he’s the one position/ player we have never managed to replace...

[Spudulike]

4 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

I think he does have affection for us and he certainly did for Vichai.

He wanted to test himself at a higher level than us - which you can understand - he's not a Leicester fan and probably didn't know much about us before arriving but he'd certainly know about the 'top teams'.

Imagine if we went to play for a second tier team in France, got promoted, won the league then the likes of PSG came calling - we'd probably want to go there.

Just trying to look at it from a balanced perspective.

Despite the mardy arse stuff he was a bloody joy to watch, the most skilful player we've (arguably) ever had.

Didn't he say that he thought Leicester was a rugby club? I suppose he was right in that, we are Leicester City despite what Sky and the youngsters tell us. 

 

Your scenario is probably true but he wanted to leave as soon as he became a Premier League player. Arsenal, Roma, anywhere. 

 

He's part of our story (the greatest ever in football) so when the Immortals are rolled out on the pitch after they have retired then I'll give him due respect and reverence for what they achieved. Including Mahrez. 

[Sir Shep]

Whinny little **** who cheated on his wife, a fantastic player no doubt but his behaviour for me just makes me go “meh”. 

[The_77]

This horse has been beaten to death, then beaten some more.

[An Sionnach]

1 hour ago, ttfn said:

Best first touch in world football

Nope that is Lionel, he is in the top five of all time. Hence the hundreds of goals.

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, murphy said:

Is Jota a winger?  I'll give you Raphinha,

 

I think 10+ goal contributions is an absolute minimum requirement (ie goals and assists).  Perez did that last year.  Barnes has 20 or so. this year.

 

I think they're thin on the ground and don't seem to travel well from European leagues.  We need another Barnes.  Clone Barnes.

 

 

 

 

The real question is of those I've listed, what percentage of wingers transferred in to the PL in the last year does that account for. 

 

Other wingers who haven't done a lot this season off the top of my head Benrahma (famous last words), Ferran Torres (Man City tend to barely use new signings in the 1st year), Bertrand Traore (started well, been crap recently), Ünder

[MrsJohnMurphy]

4 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Plenty do well as well though.

 

Raphinha

Jota

Bowen

Harrison

Lookman

James Rodriguez

 

All have 10+ goal contributions in their 1st season in the PL with their new club

I'd take Lookman all day long feisty, tricky little bugger

[Spudulike]

20 minutes ago, MrsJohnMurphy said:

I'd take Lookman all day long feisty, tricky little bugger

Good at penalties. 

[drofmor55]

All players are commodoties ..Leicester sold him when it suited them..if  it held his career back for two years is irrelevant to them. 

On the other hand, players use clubs as potential stepping stones...very few are "loyal  servants"

[Yes]

19 hours ago, murphy said:

 

Marseille 

 

Is that the same Marseille that refused to stump up £8m for Kante when they were his preferred option?     

 

About as perspicacious as rice pudding, that lot.

 

I seem to remember their president sneering that they do not fish in the same waters as Leicester City re Kante.

 

“Do you really think that Leicester players now have a place at Olympique Marseille, in the project we’ve got?

To save time, let me tell you, we try to be professional and qualitative with our recruitment. The probability of us taking this sort of player is zero.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t put up with people taking me for a sucker.“

Since the. Marseille are yet to win a trophy or get past the group stages of the Champions League, great project 

 

You have to appreciate just how much that title win did for our reputation in the wider football world, from comments like that to young talents like Fofana desperate to come to the club.

[murphy]

4 hours ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

Or you could flip that statement on its head. How low would we have finished in his last season without his 12 goals and 10 assists? Especially when you consider our other wing options were Albrighton, Gray and Diabate. 

 

People say he didn't try, but I personally don't think you can half-arse your way to 12 goals and 10 assists, no matter how talented you are. People also point to his defending, but I think they are confusing not being very good at something with not trying.

 

I'm always slightly bemused at how triggered some of our fans get at the mere mention of Mahrez. It was a win-win for both Mahrez and Leicester City. We helped turn a £450,000 Ligue 2 player into a world star, and in return he contributed massively to the greatest moments in the club's history. And his sale helped us to build the squad we have now.

 

It's sad that he seemingly doesn't appear to have much affection for us, and he was a prat for going AWOL (although I think that was as much to do with the bad advice he got from the idiots he had representing him). But I'm over it. I feel absolutely no malice towards him and still enjoy watching him play, and he's one of only a few non-Leicester players I can actually say that about.

Your post makes a lot of sense, as to 'why do Leicester fans get triggered by Mahrez'?  You go on to answer your own question, the off field stuff, post title.

 

As you say, it should have been win win. We get to invest £65m and achieve miracles thanks to Riyad.  He gets brought into the PL from obscurity and gets to develop into a great player.  He achieves the miracle and then gets to move on to the next level.  There should be mutual respect and affection.  It's a shame that that is lacking and his legacy is tainted for many but that is due to his cry baby behaviour and he doesn't get a free pass for that just because of his ability.