There is only one player missing from Manchester City’s journey to Asia after 48 hours of rumors and the kind of absurd anxiety that only a football preseason can produce: Riyad Mahrez.
Instead, the winger is traveling to the Middle East to finalize his transfer to Al Ahli, which was predicted but still had a certain air of mystery about it. Nobody was certain who else would or would not be on the trip to Tokyo when it was revealed that Mahrez would not be joining his teammates.
Monday and Tuesday saw no preseason training content posted by City on their social media pages, not even players arriving back at the facility. Many players, including all of those with a higher likelihood of departing this summer — Mahrez, Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo, and Bernardo Silva — were said to be missing.
Further uncertainty was caused when Kevin De Bruyne, Nathan Ake, and Manuel Akanji were photographed working out in Ibiza. De Bruyne had recently sustained a catastrophic hamstring injury during the Champions League final.
The players were allowed to report back at any time as long as they were on the plane during the first two days of training, which in actuality were virtually optional. An image of Rodri waiting for his bags at Leeds Bradford Airport after arriving from Ibiza was shared on Twitter on Tuesday. Many of them had been working out alone long before this week, including Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips.
Mahrez, whose five years at City are now drawing to an end, is ultimately the only one whose transfer is almost complete.
The majority of the players who have recently left City, including Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho, and Ilkay Gundogan, have been there for at least ten years. As a result, any evaluations of their time at the Etihad Stadium have included significant changes at the club and their role in those changes, as well as stories about unbreakable bonds with fans.
Mahrez’s situation is a little different, and not just because of how recently he joined the team.
Without a doubt, he was a terrific player for City during a storied era and contributed more than most people realize.
He had the typical challenging first season in 2018–19; he was in and out of the team, wasn’t in the best of form, and this raised concerns about his appropriateness for City’s style. At Leicester City, he had always been the focal point and the one looked to for ideas, but now he was just another elite player—the Grealish of his day.
But after that, his City career took off, and the statistics support this. Compared to the two before it and the three after, City fans found the 2019–20 season to be challenging to watch at times. Pep Guardiola slowed down play to protect a shaky defense, which resulted in a somewhat stodgy game. In his role as a lone No. 10, De Bruyne bore the brunt of the creative pressure, but Mahrez was right there with him, creating more chances from open play (50) and set pieces (10) than any other player saves the Belgian. In the Premier League, he contributed with nine assists and 11 goals, demonstrating that he could do so even in trying circumstances by City’s standards.
PLAYER | GOALS | ASSISTS | CHANCES CREATED FROM OPEN PLAY | CHANCES CREATED FROM SET PLAY | GAMES STARTED | MINUTES PLAYED |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
20
|
1
|
47
|
1
|
30
|
2660
|
|
16
|
3
|
17
|
1
|
18
|
1456
|
|
14
|
7
|
32
|
0
|
21
|
2027
|
|
13
|
20
|
104
|
32
|
32
|
2798
|
|
11
|
9
|
50
|
10
|
21
|
1940
|
|
6
|
10
|
48
|
0
|
22
|
1832
|
|
6
|
7
|
49
|
2
|
23
|
2029
|
|
5
|
2
|
17
|
He then produced 67 opportunities from open play and 16 from set pieces during the course of the following two years, when City generally played without a striker, and he scored 20 goals and registered 11 assists in the league. Importantly, he started 38 games over those two seasons (exactly half the games), which was the fewest of any attacking player in those positions aside from the injured Aguero.
PLAYER | GOALS | ASSISTS | CHANCES CREATED FROM OPEN PLAY | CHANCES CREATED FROM SET PIECES | GAMES STARTED | MINUTES PLAYED |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
23
|
12
|
80
|
1
|
51
|
4664
|
|
21
|
20
|
120
|
47
|
48
|
4206
|
|
21
|
6
|
65
|
15
|
43
|
3886
|
|
20
|
11
|
67
|
16
|
38
|
3445
|
|
18
|
10
|
60
|
16
|
41
|
3746
|
|
17
|
12
|
68
|
1
|
43
|
3937
|
|
10
|
10
|
82
|
As a result, he outperforms everyone on the team except for Aguero in terms of goals per 90, assists per 90, and chances created per 90 from open play and set plays. Aguero scored four goals in just seven starts. Mahrez definitely contributed during a time when City needed goals from all over the pitch.
That was also true in Europe, where he led all players in goals (11) during the same two-year span, contributed four assists, and generated the most chances (apart from De Bruyne). He contributed to three of City’s four goals in the semifinals against Paris Saint-Germain in 2020–21, helping his team advance to the final for the first time in their history.
But he was a spectator in 2022–2023 as City made it to the final once more. Those close to Guardiola claim that he has rarely found it more difficult than when it comes to Mahrez. He frequently claims that the hardest part of his job is telling players they will not be starting. Mahrez has repeatedly been the one to miss out despite doing little to deserve it since the City manager values Bernardo’s presence on the right wing in crucial games for both his ability with and without the ball. He was actually one of the club’s few consistent performances after the World Cup, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the lineup when it mattered most.
But he was a spectator in 2022–2023 as City made it to the final once more. Those close to Guardiola claim that he has rarely found it more difficult than when it comes to Mahrez. He frequently claims that the hardest part of his job is telling players they will not be starting. Mahrez has repeatedly been the one to miss out despite doing little to deserve it since the City manager values Bernardo’s presence on the right wing in crucial games for both his ability with and without the ball. He was actually one of the club’s few consistent performances after the World Cup, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the lineup when it mattered most.
When Mahrez made his point with a hat-trick in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, Guardiola stated, “He’s cranky with me when he doesn’t play, all the time. “He makes me aware of his grumpiness.”
Guardiola noted in January that Mahrez’s attitude was better in training than it had been at the beginning of the season and that when he came off the bench during that time, he had a positive impact on the team, as opposed to a game against Aston Villa in September, where he claimed the team “dropped” after he was introduced. Given that Mahrez had been completely cut from the team for whining during his first season at City, it was sort of a step forward.
Generally, though, whenever Mahrez came into the team or came off the bench, City certainly looked no worse off and he often scored or created a goal, something which may only be fully appreciated once he has gone.
After the FA Cup semi-final, Guardiola also said that he had “lost the battle to make him understand how important he is for the group,” and that really was true in both senses.
Firstly, he really was important to City. Never mind those early concerns about him adapting to City’s style, eventually, they adapted to him. Of course, he changed his game — his defensive work rate improved markedly over the years and he better understood when to release the ball — but when it comes to what Guardiola wants from his wingers these days, it is what Mahrez provides: lots of touches, top class close control, a great first touch (elite in Mahrez’s case) and an ability to work in small spaces.
Given Erling Haaland’s brazen presence up front, Guardiola is still trying to establish the proper balance in his team, so wingers who prefer to play one-twos and rush in behind are not currently on his mind. Mahrez (and Grealish) already have all he needs.
It was also established that Guardiola was correct when he said he lost the battle. Mahrez was severely sad to have missed both the FA Cup and Champions League finals. It was not a decision that was made lightly to leave Mahrez on the bench. He was observed to be absent from the group when his teammates celebrated at Wembley, which put him in a bad mood for the remainder of the evening. Even if Guardiola tried his hardest – the City manager did not want him to leave either — Al Ahli was desperate to sign him and make him their star arrival of the summer, so he would have felt greater appreciated there.
Despite Mahrez’s undeniable contribution to the squad over the years, it would not be accurate to claim that the fan base is divided over his upcoming departure. However, there are undoubtedly some City supporters who are not particularly angry or even bothered at all, about his departure.
There are a few different reasons for that. During his first season at the club, there was a home game against West Ham when the Etihad crowd was audibly frustrated by his twists and turns on the right wing. At that point he had not fully adapted to City, still taking too many touches even while his team-mates in the middle had made their runs. It looked like a clash of styles initially and he was labelled greedy, a tag that is difficult to shake off in the bubble that is supporting a football club. Even his teammates took him to one side at the start of the 2020-21 season, his third at the club and one of his best, to ask him to release the ball sooner.
Long before that, he had missed a penalty at Anfield that would have unquestionably given City the win—their first at the stadium in 16 years. Some people still hold Gabriel Jesus accountable for taking the ball from him and blazing it over the goal, or at the absolute least, it taints their opinion of his penalty record for City, which has been excellent ever since: 13 goals, three more missed.
Granted, one of those missed was in the penultimate game of the 2021–22 season, a 2-2 draw with West Ham, and it brought back a lot of regrets because it occurred during yet another vanishingly close title fight with Liverpool.
Given the wider picture, it should be simple to ignore these issues, yet for some reason, it is not. Perhaps the fact that he gives so few interviews or lacks amusing viral videos, like Haaland’s Yorkshire impressions, means that people only associate him with the stereotype of the selfish winger who consistently misses penalties.
That may be due to the fact that Haaland is a white European rather than a Muslim from North Africa, which may be influenced by his race and religion. Of course, for many people, that won’t be a factor, but it cannot be disregarded as a potential element in why he hasn’t necessarily received the respect and affection that a player with his contributions would normally receive.
Whatever the motivations, it is interesting to see some fans who dislike Mahrez continue to call for Leroy Sane’s return despite the fact that Sane occasionally lit up the Etihad but overall contributed less to the team and was not nearly as reliable as Mahrez.
Riyad Mahrez, good bye. We seem to have only recently met you.