Transfer News: AC Milan lead race for Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez amidst Chelsea interest
According to the French publication Foot Mercato (h/t The Sun), AC Milan are in the lead of the race for Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez amidst interest from Chelsea for a summer transfer. He has enjoyed quite a productive season with his current club, but that has not stopped him from getting linked with a move elsewhere.
Mahrez will see his current contract at Etihad Stadium expire in 2023. Despite having performed well throughout this term, he has been affected by competition in his position, which has, in turn, reduced his prominence because of the regular squad rotation. As such, his future with Man City is far from certain at this point.
Milan have now entered the race to sign the Algerian, and they are the frontrunners to secure his services. The Blues are in the fray, but they are also joined by Barcelona, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. Hence, claims have arisen that he could leave the Citizens at the end of this campaign to look for a fresh challenge.
Opportunity in the making?
The 31-year-old has been in hot form this term, having scored 23 goals and assisted eight times from 43 matches across all competitions. That is a great output indeed, especially after taking into account how he is not a regular starter for Pep Guardiola.
We could use someone who can regularly get in on the goal involvements in our squad. We lack someone of that nature, which is the reason why our attack often falls short compared to our defence and midfield. Perhaps, signing Mahrez could fix that issue, but prising him would not be an easy task.
After all, questions can be raised about whether the Premier League ace would be willing to join up with one of the direct rivals. Moreover, he has the opportunity to prevent such complications, especially with interests outside England. That could possibly explain why the Rossoneri are the favourites for his signature.
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With the African set to enter the final year of his current deal this summer, we could probably sign him for a cheap price because of this circumstance. However, for that to happen, we would need to convince the winger regarding a potential move to Stamford Bridge.
We must do our utmost to make that happen as we could use more competition for Hakim Ziyech on the right-wing. That means Thomas Tuchel can revert Christian Pulisic to play more regularly on the opposite side. So there are several advantages that we enjoy by signing Mahrez, but whether that will happen or not would need to be seen.