Mahrez would be on the bench at Arsenal – Suggests Ranieri?

Over the course of the past few weeks, Arsenal have been heavily linked with star Leicester player Riyad Mahrez, with rumours arising that the wide man would leave the club for Arsenal.

It has got the rumour mill up and running and Arsenal fans are desperate to see Arsene Wenger pull this deal off. Another winger isn’t our main priority but many feel that if we can snatch Mahrez at this moment in time, then it is not a deal we should let pass. A number of around £41 million is anticipated to be a fee that Leicester would agree to, which personally I feel is a little steep, however their manager Claudio Ranieri has been doing some digging in an attempt to keep hold of his main man.

After Mahrez’s stunning goal against Celtic, Ranieri was keen to point out that despite all the rumours going around, he is adamant that Mahrez will not be leaving Leicester this summer. However I think he may still be a little fearful that there is a small chance of the star mans departure, because he’s been speaking to the media in a manner that will be showing little hints aimed at Mahrez.

Speaking to the press, Sky Sports reported Ranieri saying: “It is very important [to keep him] he is one of our stars. Other teams maybe have more stars and maybe he doesn’t play at the same level, because maybe is on the bench so it is much better he stays with me.”

Now of course Ranieri isn’t pointing the finger in the direction of Mahrez to Arsenal, in fact the Italian doesn’t make any mention of any potential suitors for Mahrez’s signature. However Ranieri does suggest that Mahrez should think twice if a club of Arsenal’s stature does come in with a bid, because he seems to believe Mahrez wouldn’t be a regular first team player at a big club.

First of all if you’re talking about the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, both who have also been linked with Mahrez then yes, there’s no surprise that Mahrez probably wouldn’t be a first team regular. He isn’t going to get past Ronaldo, Bale, Messi or Neymar. However if you’re talking about Arsenal, Chelsea, the Premier League sides who are linked with the Algerian, then I can safely say he would certainly be a regular over Walcott or Pedro.

At Arsenal although we have plenty of depth in midfield, we really do lack in quality on the wings. After Alexis Sanchez there is a dramatic fall in quality to our next best player, which is largely a fight between Walcott, Ox and Campbell, whilst Iwobi is slowly making a name for himself. At Arsenal Mahrez would one hundred per cent be a first team regular, and based on current form Mahrez would get ahead of the likes of Ox, Walcott and Campbell any day of the week.

For Ranieri’s sake I hope Mahrez doesn’t take his comments the wrong way by thinking that the Italian manager is suggesting he isn’t good enough to be a regular player at a top European club. However from the perspective of Arsenal, I’m sure most would be more than happy to see Mahrez regularly featuring on our wing.

By AH

32 Comments

  1. The question still remains …do we really need Mahrez when we should be putting ALL our efforts into buying in a W/C striker !!!!! Mahrez is a waste of money in my opinion when the funs that may well be spent on him could or should be added to whatever has been set aside to buy a key striker.
    Midfield is really a place that we really DONT need any more acquisitions, in fact we could do with selling Walcott and maybe the OX (Walcott especially rankles me as I feel he’s lazy and ineffective and has lumbered himself on us forever as he cannot justify his wage bill.)
    Mahrez is a great players but do we need him???

    1. Wenger won’t payout the kind of money thats needed to buy an out and out Striker! He even recently claimed that he had to calm Gazidis down, who is highly motivated to spend on transfers. ? So maybe some fan’s on here will now understand that even though Gazidis’s handles the funds for transfers, it is Wenger who decides whether to spend or not!

      As for Mahrez, he is worth ever penny of the £40 million and theres no reason why he can’t be converted into a striker, he even played in that position when Vardy wasn’t available through injury or when he was banned, last season.

  2. I prefer Draxler to Mahrez to be honest. He seems more mobile and flexible. But then Mahrez doesn’t get injured as much and he has premier league experience.

    1. Agree!
      Draxler has more potential and may develop into a striker. but I doubt his availability this summer.
      Mahrez is an EPL proved winger. He can score and assist.
      Will be happy to get either one.
      still have high hope for Ox. he has everything needed to be a real force.
      in addition, we have to sell Theo to save wage and increase spending fund.

  3. @Ozzy…..You made some valid points but Mahrez is not a waste of money. We need a striker but our right wing isn’t so strong either. We have played Ramsey and Campbell there. I like Campbell attitude and his commitment but he is no where Mahrez level..

    We can’t rely on Walcott on the wing. Ox is on and off. I want him to do well this season and he is capable of doing well if he stays fit..

    A striker, Mahrez and CB won’t hurt but you may think someone has to leave….Walcott maybe?

    1. Im all for bringing Mahrez in if we had a full contingent of outfield players who can fit the bill thats required, dont get me wrong I rate Mahrez but all this talk of coversions to strikers ect is a thing that takes time and theres little garuntee that it will work and while we are finding out if it works or not we are again loosing games we should win through a deficit of goals and real goal scorers.
      I got a lot of thumbs down for my previous comment but In my mind I have to ask why we are looking at yet another winger / Midfielder when what we should have been doing is seeking out a 25 goal a season striker.
      I already know the answer I suppose its because Wenger believes that Giroud can still walk the walk, but in my mind he never has. Its telling that Giroud misses more than he scores and I have nothing against Him personally but he just isnt up the level we require .
      Walcott as far as I see it has manuvered the club into an untenable position as he is never gonna be what everyone wannted him to be and we are now stuck with a player who has lost his bottle and who lacks motivation and the will to put effort in but who we are going to struggle to sell as he has an exorbitant wage has not got the will or the talent to match who would want him?
      For a club that values saving money above ALL things this has got to be the blag of the century and as it was Wenger who sanctioned this you have to ask yourself why was it allowed to happen?
      As far as Wenger putting a lead on Ivan….does anyone really believe this? or is it a tactic to take the heat from the board and attempt to keep the fans off of the oards back? thats what it smells like to me . Im afrid Ive become very cynical about Arsene and the transfer market especialy after the Suarez fiasco

    2. Sell
      Ox 20 mill
      Walcott 25 mill
      Wilshere 20 mill.
      65 mill
      Mahrez 40 mill
      Mustafi 23 mill.
      2 mill worth of shrapnel for a party to celebrate.

      1. Lol! Who will buy Oxlade for £20M?! Better yet who will hoof out £25M for 140-a-week Walcott?Are you serious man? These guys will suck they club dry before they leave. We are stuck with them..Wenger’s new more expensive deadwood collection..he had to replace Bendtner, Santos, Chamakh and Arshavin!

        1. Yeah and I may have 50 when and if he improves…Wenger may retire by then!!
          Just one question you need to ask all of you who still believe in Ox Walcott Campbell etc – Why wait?

  4. I find it interesting that Mahrez was quick to shut down PSG rumors and a return to France.. But on the Arsenal rumor front? Crickets….

    1. why would anyone thumb down the comment about crickets made by Josh 37 ??? theres nothing on there to have an opinion on just a comment about how quiet its been regarding an Arsenal move…odd really methinks

  5. Football pundit Tony Cascarino has claimed on Sky Sports that Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette will join Arsenal by the end of next week.

    During the discussion, Cascarino appeared extremely confident that a deal taking Lacazette to north London will be completed before the 2016/17 Premier League season gets underway in less than two weeks.
    When asked if Lacazette is the striker that the Gunners need, Cascarino agreed and added: “I’ve got a few people in France who really believe that this deal will go through by the end of this week coming.

    * It’s seems as if TC was spot on, as the latest news coming from the Lyon Boss suggests that Lacazette has forced a move to Arsenal, aswell as Arsenal upping their previous bid.

    1. Yes *It seems Arsenal’s
      “Final never ever to be raised ”
      30 mill bid is now up to 35 mill 🙂
      At the same time *It seems
      that the Lyon President’s ” Lacazette will never leave” statement
      has been updated to “Some bids you can’t turn down”
      *It seems that during transfer season “never ever”
      can some times mean 3 days, an afternoon or just an hour”:)

    2. Hmmm… So if it does go through.. It almost seems as if the low-ball first bid did exactly what it intended to do. Unsettle Lacazette and give him a nudge to force the move 😉

  6. Mahrez is a brilliant player for sure without a doubt but the OX showed last night that he could be even better than Mahrez with the OX campbell and walcott do we really need a winger I beg to differ what we need is a striker a striker of 25+ goals imagine henry or van on the team sheet now with the squad we have I liked be yedder because he was young and complete striker a striker that no mater of the circumstances are or position will strike you a goal pace agility skill clever cunning and ugly

    1. ox also played well in Community Shield last year and then was horrible rest of the season. Fans get too easily fooled. Ox has never scored more than 2 EPL goals a season. What’s more likely to happen is he’ll get injured most of the season, and then ppl will make new excuses for him next time around, talking about his “potential”. Ox needs to step up or get out, some friendly changes nothing. He’s not NEAR Mahrez’s level.

    1. 2015-2016
      Mahrez 17 goals. 11 assists.
      Elneny. 1 goal. 1 assist.
      Elneny is clearly the better player.

      1. no not at All and even though elneny isn’t mahrez quality yet elneny scored against barca where mahrez didn’t score against PSG for mahrez to be of special quality eg suarez messi henry batastuta would have scored putting his mark on the Game

  7. Lacazette aint a bad striker but he’s not in the same league as the likes of Higuain and others, he is a second tier striker at best and while I welcome any improvements I feel that to pay the money we will end up paying for Lacazette we may just as well have gone straight for the jugular and tried to get Higuain theres a huge difference between 17 goals a season and whatver it was Higuian scored last season, was it 27 or 30 goals?? whilst I dont agree with the fee’s being paid in todays market thats just how it is and Juve certainly seem to think that he’s worth the money and Im gussing thier money men aint any more stupid than ours.

    1. Doesn’t matter if he’s in league with Higuain or Messi….the only thing our strikers (whoever it will be) need to do is to convert created chances which we had plenty last season and we are going to have them this season too…
      So, I’ll put it simple: we need a striker that doesn’t s**t his pants when he get in front of the goal and hit the g** d**n target and score goals!!!!!!!!

  8. We’ve seen what a difference Sanchez makes to our seasons regarding goals, so it’s logical another player with the same ability on the other wing will make twice the difference. We shpi;d have at least one in form most of the time and there will be periods when they both are.

    As far as I am concerned we only have Iwobi and Campbell on the other wing, with Iwobi still feeling his way and Campbell being too fomd of shooting for Wenger to use as a regular since he wants the tippy tappy stuff in the final third.

    We have DM finally filled. I wanted Wallcott replaced fpr a long time, is comstant absences have trashed our seasons for too long. A non-injury prone PFA winning proven Premiership winger is that ready made replacement and easily the best option in World football. Draxler and other over-seas players always have the possibility of not adapting to the EPL. Mahrez is a finished product at 25, will improve further and is guaranteed to be an impact on every game from day one.

    I don’t want sick-note Walcott replaced with sick-note Draxler …. we need two consistent wingers who play 80%+ games per season to give the team a constant serious threat element that will never be doubted by any team ….. while between them we have at least 4 big threats. This minimises a top world class striker being crucial if we get Mahrez. Olly Giroud is more than capable to provide the goals he consistently does with the likelihood of more with another Sanchez type of player on the other wing …. game in ….. game out …. come rain or shine.

    1. With the inclusion of mahrez we will sacrifice with some of our players and force them on the bench or sale cause for sure you wont bench mahrez …. mahrez is a good player dont get me wrong but what we need is a striker not winger if we get mahrez we still need a striker who can take responsibility in the event of OG 12 not being there for one reason or the other MR wenger takes for ever he cant make his mind up he is constrained already you want him to get two players ? It is much easier for him to get one one striker 25+ goals we have many players that can operate on the wing we only have one OG 12 now My argument isn’t about mahrez quality or the quantity of his quality it is about getting a striker because it is what we need now unless chuba is the one in your mind then mahrez is a good addition but to me a striker is of most importance

      1. I agree we will still need a striker but what I say is that he doesn’t need to be a World class 50 Million+ striker if we have Mahrez on the other wing. The only players being benched would be Campbell and Iwobi. Walcott will be injured. If Mahrez does arrive I expect either Campbell or Iwobi to go out on loan.

    1. He had Elneny benched for almost 4 weeks after buying him, he benched Campbell while in the form of his Arsenal career to make room for Walcott when he returned from injury but I cannot see Mahrez being benched because Wenger won’t be able to justify it … and with his track record of poor team sheets, players out of position, weird substitutions, wrong players on the bench – he will avoid it.

  9. If Arsene Wenger is a cat and a bait inform of a spicy fish is in his part he would not bulge so Arsenal fans we should resign our faith to either fourth or if possible relegation this season. It will only take a stroke of chances for him to do the needful and even win EPL probably in his after life.

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