‘Depressed’ Mahrez threatens to quit Leicester City squad after blocked Man City move

Leicester City star Riyad Mahrez [Photo: Courtesy]

Fuming Riyad Mahrez is facing showdown talks with Leicester having threatened to never play for the club again after they priced him out of a move to Manchester City.

Mahrez went AWOL ahead of the transfer deadline as he desperately tried to force through a switch to Pep Guardiola’s Premier League’s leaders and is threatening not to play for the club again.

The Algerian was said by a friend to be “depressed” after the deal broke down, but Leicester insisted they would not be “bullied” by their former Footballer of the Year.

Manchester City tabled four unsuccessful bids for the forward before calling off their pursuit last night when Leicester slapped a £95 million valuation on the player, demanding £60 million cash plus a City player in exchange.

"Riyad is very depressed at what has happened over the past few days," a friend of the Leicester player told Sky Sports News.

"He doesn’t understand Leicester’s point of view. This is the fourth transfer window that Leicester have said he can leave.

"Leicester would have made £59m profit on the player. He’s given his all for Leicester so he can leave in this window. Joining Man City to work with Pep Guardiola would have been a dream for him. He still hopes to do it."

The 26-year-old failed to turn up to training on Tuesday at Leicester and did not even bother to tell his club of his movements.

It left Foxes’ officials, players and coach Claude Puel in the dark and affected plans for their Premier League game at Everton.

Puel had already drawn up tactics for the game with Mahrez starting and then had to change his line-up.

But Mahrez’s antics still did not force Leicester’s wealthy Thai owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha into selling the 2016 PFA player of the year.

City’s final offer for in-form Mahrez, who has two-and-a-half-years left on his £100,000-a-week contract, was believed to be worth around £65m.

Leicester insisted Mahrez was worth nearly £100m due to Philippe Coutinho’s £142m switch to Barcelona earlier this month, having signed him for just £460,000 from Le Havre in 2014.

It is the second successive window Mahrez has pushed unsuccessfully for a move after leaving Algeria’s national team camp in the summer on deadline day.

Puel has been forced to contend without Mahrez at Goodison, having guided the Foxes to seventh in the table, thanks largely to the winger's form.

But while addressing the media after the 2-1 loss to Everton, Leicester manager Claude Puel downplayed the gravity of Mahrez situation by hinting that the reports are new to him.

“I will take all the information and we'll see with Riyad.” Said Puel.

He went ahead acknowledging that the situation surrounding decision making was difficult given that it is mid-season.

A report by Dailystar from UK reveals that the coach is determined to put the past behind him b mobilizing other players to welcome Mahrez to the club so that he can enjoy the game.