Leicester City kicked off their International Champions Cup campaign with victory over Scottish giants Celtic and striker Riyad Mahrez scored a brilliant goal for the Foxes at Celtic Park. After some great work by Kasper Schmeichel and Leonardo Ulloa in the buildup, the ball arrived at Mahrez’s feet, where he cut inside before unleashing an unstoppable left footed effort.
Video of Mahrez’s goal against Celtic (via Vidme)
Alternate angles of Mahrez’s delightful strike v Celtic
The Algerian was a key part of Leicester’s success last season along with N’Golo Kante and Jamie Vardy and while they’ve lost Kante, Leicester will be aiming to keep the other two for another season at least. They’ve already had success with Vardy, with the England striker rejecting an offer from Arsenal and choosing to ink a fresh deal with the Foxes.
It’s also the Gunners who are said to be very interested in Mahrez, with reports in France linking them with a £47m move for the reigning PFA Player of the Year, who joined Leicester from Le Havre two seasons ago for just £400,000.
However Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri has insisted that Mahrez will stay at the King Power Stadium, telling reporters after the Celtic game that the Algerian “was happy” and would “of course stay with them”. He also added that Leicester would be able to offer Mahrez a chance to build on his amazing success last year, and that such an opportunity might not be given to him at other clubs like Arsenal, where he might have to be content with a spot on the bench.
The other club involved in the Mahrez transfer gossip is Chelsea, the club who signed N’Golo Kante. A Chelsea fan even reportedly spotted “Mahrez” jerseys being sold as an option on Adidas’ site, and that has brought around a flurry of Mahrez to Chelsea bets. In fact, Sky, who are offering a £20 free bet on a £5 deposit, have slashed the odds on him joining the Blues to just 13/8 at the time of writing (from 16/1 and 2/1 earlier). Arsenal, who were earlier favourites, are now being quoted at 2/1, and you can be sure this will be a transfer saga that will continue to eat reams of paper in the next few weeks. Ranieri, when asked about the rumours, quipped “It is good because you (the press) can continue to write, write, write”
Arsenal have been long linked with Gonzalo Higuain, but that now seems unlikely after Juve agreed a 90 million euro deal with Napoli. That leaves Icardi and Lacazette, but Napoli are said to be seriously looking at both of them as options to replace Higuain. Gunners fans are desperate for their manager to sign a big name forward, but if that doesn’t happen, the 16/17 season might end up being another trophy-less one at the Emirates.