Leicester City winger Riyad
Mahrez has been given permission to leave the Algeria national team’s
training camp as he closes in on a possible transfer away from the east
Midlands.
Mahrez, 26, has been consistently linked with a move away from Leicester this summer although he has featured prominently in the club's Premier League campaign so far.
"Leicester
City's Algerian international Riyad Mahrez, who is currently with the
national team in Sidi Moussa to prepare for the double confrontation
against Zambia for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, was authorised by the
national coach Lucas Alcaraz and the Algerian Football Federation to
make an express trip to Europe to formalise on Thursday his transfer to
his new club, read a statement on the Algerian Football Association’s website on Thursday.
"The national team will fly without him on Thursday morning to Lusaka to face Zambia on Saturday."The identity of Mahrez’s next club, though, remains a source of conjecture. The Manchester Evening News reported on Thursday that United has “no concrete interest” in Mahrez, the creative lynchpin in Leicester’s astonishing Premier League title triumph in 2016-17.
That’s despite
manager Jose Mourinho requiring and desiring a left winger to add
balance to a team that nevertheless leads the Premier League with a
perfect record after three games.
The BBC
claims Barcelona, Chelsea and United are “interested” but only A.S.
Roma has made any formal bids for Mahrez, with the third and latest
worth around £32 million ($41.3 million).
Mahrez is
clearly going somewhere that isn’t staying at Leicester City before the
British transfer window closes at midnight on Thursday, but his
destination seems to be a genuine source of mystery. As for
United—having failed to land Mourinho’s first-choice left winger in Ivan
Perisic, it looks like being a quiet close to the window for the
Premier League leader.
