Riyad Mahrez reaches agreement over potential Manchester City exit with decision to be made

Manchester City have been left with a decision to make on the future of Riyad Mahrez, after the Algerian reportedly reached an agreement over a potential exit.

The 32-year-old has been at the centre of various levels of transfer speculation this summer, with Manchester City understood to be in the market for a new wide-forward and looking to refresh their squad across the board ahead of the new season.

With Mateo Kovacic already in the squad after completing a move from Chelsea last month, and the club now focussing on a deal for RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol, the prospect of signing a winger may yet have to wait a few more weeks.

However, in the meantime, reports continue to suggest that Riyad Mahrez could bring an end to his illustrious time at the Etihad Stadium, which started in the summer of 2018 after he swapped former Premier League winners and now Championship outfit Leicester City for the north-west of England.

The latest information claims that Mahrez has reached a level of agreement with the middle-east, but a deal is not as straight forward as it may sound.

That is according to the information of Sports Zone, as translated and relayed by Get French Football News, who state that Riyad Mahrez has now found an agreement with the Saudi Arabian investment fund, PIF over a possible move to the Saudi Pro League this summer.

It is claimed that the Algeria international is now waiting to find out whether or not Etihad Stadium officials will allow for a move from Manchester City to occur, with the 32-year-old open to making a move to the middle-east.

Detailing the deal that has supposedly been reached, Sports Zone states that Riyad Mahrez has found a ‘provisional salary agreement’ with PIF worth close to €25 million a year, and he has informed Manchester City officials of this.

Whilst also being open to the idea of a move to Saudi Arabia, Mahrez reportedly believes that now is the moment to make a change in his career. However, and perhaps crucially from the viewpoint of the treble winners, the winger will not attempt to force the move due to the strong relationship in place with the club.

From the viewpoint of Manchester City, Sports Zone states that the Premier League champions planned to retain Mahrez this summer, with manager Pep Guardiola refusing to accept a situation where both the Algeria international and Bernardo Silva leave this summer.

Links to possible wide-forward replacements at Manchester City this summer have been few and far between, but in the last week, the club have been mooted as being a potential suitor for Spain under-21 international Rodrigo Riquelme.

While sources in Spain have suggested that Manchester City have already lodged an offer to Atletico Madrid in excess of €15 million, the official word from the club themselves is that such suggestions are wide of the mark.

City have also been linked with interest in Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and AC Milan’s Rafael Leao, however both deals are deemed to be close to impossible to complete due to transfer valuations slapped on both names, as well as their respective contractual positions with their current clubs.