Claude Puel:”Riyad Mehrez Is Staying With Us, Slimani Will Leave”

Leicester City’s coach, the French Claude Puel, decided on the future of Algerian internationals, Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani, and confirmed that Mahrez will stay with the team while he asserted that he gave the green light to Slimani to leave during the current transfer season.

Puel added that Mahrez will not leave Leicester City during the current winter Mercato, despite the many news that linked him to several clubs in England such as Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City. 

“For us, we do not care about what is being said. All the hype about Mahrez is just speculation or rumors”, the French coach told Sky Sports on Monday. 

“Of course we are in the transfer period, but I’m not afraid of that because we have a high moral spirit and wonderful positive reactions within the team”.

Liverpool told Leicester that they are not interested in the transfer of Riyad Mahrez, who was linked to moving to this club during the current winter Mercato to replace Philippe Coutinho, who moved to Barcelona. 

“The departure of Coutinho to Barcelona earlier this month gave him a lot of money to invest in strengthening his team, which led to several rumors about it”, The Times said. 

“Among these rumors, Liverpool was linked to the inclusion of Mahrez, but Liverpool is not interested in joining him and he continues with Leicester’s management and he told that”.

“Arsenal is still the favorite to win, but Leicester does not want to sell him during the current transfer season”.

For his part, Puel spoke about the important things that preoccupies Mahrez currently; “His good ambition now is to continue his hard work, to show his abilities during and after the matches, and this is until the end of the football season”. 

“He has regained his good form, and it is important for us to continue this way and show everyone its value .. It is wonderful to continue with us until the end of the season” .

“I have a lot of faith in Riyad, we talked a lot about football, because he loves this sport very much. Today he is well mature and has experience in life, he is a great player for the team, and we can see his love and his attachment to football, he is very happy with us and with his teammates, and it is very important for us to retain our best players”.

On the other hand, Puel announced the departure of the other Algerian international in the ranks of Leicester City, Islam Slimani: “The only player who will be allowed to leave in the winter transfer period is the striker Islam Slimani”. 

“We have six players who are active in the attack and only compete for two positions, so one striker must be abandoned”.