5 players Manchester City should sign this summer

3. Riyad Mahrez

There are times where a manager will want a player, only for that player to move to another club. Once that happens, the manager has no other choice but to look for other alternatives.

Pep Guardiola originally wanted Alexis Sanchez to join City from Arsenal. The two had worked together from their days at Barcelona when the former brought the Chilean to Spain from Italian club Udinese. But alas, Sanchez went to Manchester United and now Guardiola has his sights set on Mahrez, not a bad second option.

The 27-year-old has been rumored to join City for months, with speculation back in January that he handed in a transfer request. The Algerian’s output has been spectacular.

https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/995688787199102977

This transfer works for both teams. On City’s part, it gives them a winger who is productive, relatively young and gives them more depth in attack. So far the wingers who mostly featured this season are Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva. The latter was primarily used as a late substitution.

As for Leicester, the magic of 2015-16 is gone. They sold N’Golo Kante following that tremendous title triumph and haven’t been the same since. With Claude Puel at the helm, this team has to start contending for European places.

They finished the campaign in a respectable ninth place. The main problem is they don’t have the money in order to buy a few players to challenge for eighth, seventh and sixth position. They’ll be kicking themselves over seeing Burnley make it to the Europa League, that alone should force Leicester’s hand and cash in.

Of course, this’ll cost a fair bit. Jamie Jackson from The Guardian reports City will have to pay around £75 million ($100.2 million). City have the cash that persuade Leicester to sell. Keep an eye on this, as this one looks the most likely to be done.