It may mark the end of an era as Mahrez looks set to leave City. Instead of joining his Treble-winning teammates on their pre-season tour to Japan and South Korea, he is headed to Saudi Arabia to join Jeddah Nationals in a £30million move.
On the one hand, for a 32-year-old Manchester City professional player who did not start in the Champions League and FA Cup final, it is an excellent business to get 30 million pounds by transferring him. Blue Moon paid him 60 million pounds 5 years ago, and now they can get half of the money back.
Mahrez, on the other hand, won 10 major trophies with Manchester City in five years, something that any professional footballer would be proud of.
But it has to be said that despite receiving reasonable compensation, Manchester City still lost a key player in this deal, although he is often underestimated by the media. For Guardiola’s side, perhaps Mahrez’s departure will not be felt more deeply until later in the new season, when they need someone to step up in the big game.
5 years and 4 crowns accompany the blue moon into a full moon
Mahrez is from Leicester City and was one of the important members of the Blue Foxes who created a championship miracle in the 2015-16 season. Then he moved to Manchester City in the summer of 2018.
In the 2018-19 season, he won the so-called “local treble” with Manchester City, but it actually included 4 championships in all domestic competitions. Of course, his first Blue Moon season took a little getting used to, which seems to be a compulsory course for every first-timer at the Etihad, but his goals and assists on the final day at Brighton helped the club win 4-1 and edge the Reds to the title by a point.
In the 2019-20 season, Sane was seriously injured before leaving. Mahrez brought enough experience and quality to Manchester City’s right wing, but they lost to the thriving Liverpool in the Premier League competition. In this season, Mahrez played a record 50 games on behalf of the club in all competitions, scoring 13 goals and 13 assists. This figure is enough to show how well his “second year” adapted.
Since then, City have won three Premier League titles in a row, with Mahrez playing a key role in each of those successes.
In the 2020-21 season, Mahrez scored a hat-trick against Burnley and played a key role in Manchester City’s easy return to the title. At the same time, he also made a memorable contribution in the Champions League that year. A goal in the second leg of the quarter-finals, an impressive free-kick in the first leg of the semi-final and a second brace in the second leg sent City to their maiden Champions League final.
In the 2021-22 season, with the arrival of Grealish, Mahrez faced more competition, but he increased his goals and continued to play a better role in key games. Scored twice against Manchester United, contributed a calm penalty against Arsenal and also had a goal and an assist against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final. He scored 24 goals throughout the season, a career high.
In the 2022-23 season, the starting pick on the right side of the B seat surpassed him, but he still worked hard to get up from the bench and contributed extremely influential performances against Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Sheffield United. The FA Cup semi-final hat-trick at Wembley could also be a major turning point in his City career, as Guardiola later admitted he “failed” to convince Riyad Mahrez how important he was to the club.
This is the history Mahrez created. He became the first player to perform a hat-trick in the semi-finals of the FA Cup since 1958, and the first player in Manchester City’s history to perform a hat-trick at Wembley.
Guardiola lost the game. After making the above arrangements, he was unable to convince Mahrez through other actions, how important he is to Manchester City now.
How to recognize Mahrez’s greatness
In 236 games played for Manchester City, Mahrez contributed 78 goals and 59 assists. He can create a goal every 110 minutes on average.
So, for Mahrez, looking for a new challenge at the age of 32 is a very fair thing, he will get a long-term contract for this, as well as a good salary for his young family.
He deserves his place as one of the greatest players in Premier League history. He won 1 Premier League title with Leicester City and 4 more with Manchester City. In the last eight years, he has done what most professional players will never do in their careers.
He helped Manchester City upgrade from a hopeful star to a real challenger, until this season’s Triple Crown, the final winner. He played a pivotal but often forgotten role in the club’s rise to supremacy, injecting some belief in the Blues that they lacked.
With 10 trophies and a net cost of £30m, Mahrez should be considered one of Guardiola’s most successful signings at City.
Manchester City get new guidelines
Regardless of Mahrez’s personal feelings, Manchester City can also get new guidance from his departure process to help them successfully pass the summer transfer window after the Triple Crown.
Once his move is finalized, City will accelerate their plans to find a replacement but, more importantly, ensure they don’t have another attacker leaving this summer.
This is mainly talking about seat B. The B seat was the sweet spot in the transfer market last summer and this summer, but with the departure of Gundogan and the departure of Mahrez, the current Blue Moon will definitely not be willing to bear the possible pain of letting him leave. The departure of Mahrez means that the B seat will stay on the team.
Not only is the B seat still one of the best players in the many positions he can play, but he is also a very popular figure in the dressing room and has won Guardiola’s trust in key games, as he is one of the few who can quickly adapt to Guardiola’s tactical details.
After Gundogan leaves, the importance of the B seat may further increase, and this feeling will be further amplified by Mahrez’s departure.
The departure of Mahrez also means a lot to young players such as Foden, Alvarez and Palmer. As long as they perform well enough, they will no longer worry about their playing time, at least not more than before.
City have to deal with the record transfer of Gwadiol and the possible departures of Cancelo, Laporte and Walker, but at least on the attacking line, with the departure of Riyad Mahrez, their plan becomes very clear and defined.
(Editor: Smiling Jiuquan)Return to Sohu to see more
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Disclaimer: The opinions of this article represent only the author himself. Sohu is an information release platform, and Sohu only provides information storage space services.
2023-07-21 05:57:00
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