The sale of City winger can open up more funds for City’s excellent recruitment policy.
Pep Guardiola could be about to pull off another stroke of genius in the transfer market after winger Riyad Mahrez was linked with a move to Saudi Arabia.
Man City transfer news – Riyad Mahrez
According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Mahrez has been subject to an approach from Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli.
Romano stated that the Algerian winger had been the target of a bumper bid from Saudi Arabia as clubs from the country target top talent in Europe with the help of the nation’s Public Investment Fund.
Mahrez has two years left on his contract at the Etihad Stadium, so the European champions would look for a sizable fee from Al-Ahli to let the winger leave the club.
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, Italian journalist Rudy Galetti confirmed the approach and expects a decision on the future of Mahrez to be made soon.
“We know for sure he received a big offer from Al-Ahli three weeks ago that he rejected. But a few days before the Champions League final, the Saudi Arabian club presented a new huge bid. The response of the player has not yet arrived and is expected soon,” he said.
Could Guardiola repeat his Gabriel Jesus masterstroke?
One of the reasons Man City and Guardiola have been so successful in recent seasons is their ruthlessness in the transfer market.
Unlike rivals like Manchester United and Liverpool, City don’t fear letting club legends and fan favourites walk before their sell-by date, and Mahrez – who was previously hailed as a “genius” by both The Guardian’s Barney Ronay and his former Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri – could be the next player to depart, despite still possessing much of the magician-like quality a treble-winning side needs.
The club continue to rebuild and reshape the team even while the team is performing on the pitch, as opposed to changing things once it is desperately needed.
Take the sale of Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal, for example.
City offloaded the Brazilian striker to their Premier League rivals for £45m last summer after signing him back in 2017 for an estimated £27m from Brazilian club Palmeiras.
The Spaniard let Jesus walk in his prime at the age of 25, and eyebrows were raised over the sale.
City wasted no time in replacing him, snapping up Julian Alvarez the same summer after agreeing a deal for the Argentinian in the January window.
Alvarez cost just £14m and has shown fantastic potential playing behind arguably the best striker in the world in Erling Haaland.
City legend Richard Dunne praised City for their remarkable work in the market.
Speaking to Virgin Media Sport, Dunne stated:
“The whole recruitment, they don’t make many mistakes.
“They did get it wrong at the start maybe with a couple of players here and there but now over the last three or four years every single player who has come in, you look at Alvarez, he was £15m, £16m so well affordable for the whole of the Premier League and most of Europe, but City were the ones who went out and got him.”
The sale of Jesus not only made the club a significant profit but replacing him with the cheap option of Alvarez has worked wonders and created City more breathing room under the Financial Fair Play rules.
Mahrez, who cost £60m in 2018, could be another man who leaves the Etihad Stadium despite still having significant potential to help the side. It’s a smart business decision from Guardiola and City and allows more funds to be made available to City to spend this summer.
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