Vardy and Mahrez would be a dream come true for Arsenal fans
When the news first came out that Jamie Vardy may be signing for Arsenal, many Gooners wished that his Leicester City teammate Riyad Mahrez, would also make his way to North London.
Soon after the reports about Vardy came out and that his release clause of £20 million had been met, it was suddenly announced that Mahrez too has a very low release clause in his current contract.
The figure in Mahrez’s contract remains unknown to the media, and it seems that Arsenal haven’t progressed on any potential deal. However, Mahrez may have given Arsenal some hope with his most recent comments, with the winger raising some questions surrounding his future. Mahrez told the media: ‘It is flattering to hear, as I said nothing is agreed, nothing is done. We will see… For the moment I have not made a decision. We will see. It is possible that I stay, it is possible that I leave. We will see.’
It seems like the situation surrounding Mahrez isn’t quite as straight forward as we imagined. I personally thought that Mahrez, along with Kante, would almost certainly remain at Leicester next season, despite attracting much interest from across Europe. I thought the pair would like to continue the dream and ambition that Leicester currently stand under. However perhaps the Algerian is willing to turn away from the Premier League champions, in order to move to a more consistent top European club.
Arsenal will surely be one of just many clubs interested in Mahrez, with many teams in the premier league alone being interested in the 25 year old. However there will surely be interest abroad from some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including FC Barcelona, so Arsenal will have a major challenge on their hands. If Arsenal managed to pull off the signing of Mahrez it would be a fantastic signing for the club. Mahrez may not be the biggest name in football, nor the most expensive, however he is proven in the Premier League, he has experience of winning, is ambitious and of course very talented.
It of course does remain to be seen where this transfer will go this summer. Personally I don’t think any deal will come off, however if it does begin to develop, I’m sure everyone will be unable to contain their excitement at the thought of Mahrez in an Arsenal kit. If we get Vardy and Mahrez it will be like a dream come true!
Amazes me how to some people Vardy could be a one season wonder but mahrez is a proven epl player. Vardy is also too old for some at 29, yet cavani, ibrahimovic and Ronaldo are all older? It should all be about quality, affordability and accessibility and for around £60m arsenal could nab Vardy mahrez and kante. I think that solves 3 of the 4 positions we need add John stones to that and I think that would be our summer sorted including 2 homegrown signings. I mention the homegrown because we might need them, particularly if we want to replace gibbs and walcott (Liverpool set to offer £37m) with Rodriguez and mhkthiryan (also costing about £37m) which would be a damn good upgrade.