DBasia.news – Riyad Mahrez rarely plays at Manchester City since coming from Leicester City. Nevertheless, Pep Guardiola fully supports Mahrez.
Manchester City has long wanted Riyad Mahrez. However, the defending Premier League champions could only bring Mahrez with the most expensive player status in the transfer market last summer.
After coming to Manchester City, Riyad Mahrez had become the club’s mainstay. Unfortunately, Mahrez has not played as a starter in the Premier League since December 30, 2018.
In fact, from Manchester City’s six Premier League matches, Riyad Mahrez only played twice. The rest, the Algerian player sat on the bench.
Pep Guardiola claimed to have his reasons for not playing Riyad Mahrez. However, the Spanish manager still believes in the 27-year-old.
“I have a reason, not Riyad Mahrez, but I am. I am sad because Mahrez performed beautifully during training. He brought out the b-player talent,” said Pep Guardiola.
“However, we have five attackers. For example, Leroy Sane did not play against Arsenal and Chelsea. We have many great players.”
“I feel happy to have Riyad Mahrez, but unfortunately I am not good with him. I apologize for not being able to give minutes to play for him,” continued Pep Guardiola.
Riyad Mahrez’s contribution to Manchester City is quite impressive. Of the 34 matches, Mahrez was able to contribute nine goals and 10 assists for The Citizen.