Saudi Pro League club Al Ahli will reportedly step up their pursuit of Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez this week.
The star remains a City player for now, but it looks as though Al Ahli are determined to try and sign the Algeria international.
Mahrez’s future has been up in the air for the past few weeks now.
The 32-year-old lost prominence towards the end of the 2023/24 season, with Pep Guardiola preferring the likes of Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish out on the wings.
As a result of Mahrez struggling for starts, there has been talk he could move on.
A few weeks ago, interest from Al Ahli was first reported.
And now it seems they are ready to push hard
Al Ahli ready to make a big push for Man City winger Riyad Mahrez
According to journalist Ben Jacobs, Al Ahli will push this week to sign Mahrez.
Nothing has yet been agreed with City.
But they feel as though there is a deal to be done. And they seen the next few days as ‘decisive’.
Talks have been on since June, and the player has been aware of an offer for almost a month.
It was reported at the end of last month that Mahrez was still uncertain as to what to do – stay at the Etihad and fight for his place, or move on to pastures new.
Of course, Mahrez would be able to earn incredible money by making a switch to the Middle East.
It has also been claimed that Paris Saint-Germain have taken a look at Mahrez this summer.
Mahrez making Al Ahli move would not be a surprise
So it seems there could potentially be a bit of movement on this in the coming days, one way or the other.
It would be no surprise if this ended up happening.
Mahrez – previously described as an ‘an oddly underrated ball-playing genius’ by The Guardian – wants to start regularly, and he was finding that tricky towards the end of last season.
So he may well look at leaving.
He would probably be the biggest coup so far for Saudi if he did agree to go, and he would be able to earn extremely well as a result.
But it’s also possible that if Bernardo leaves City, then that will boost his chances of regular minutes.
