What does Riyad Mahrez's new contract mean for his Leicester future?
Riyad Mahrez and Leicester City have agreed to a new contract that will tie the playmaker to the defending Premier League champions through 2020. The news comes on the heels of a summer of speculation that Mahrez, the reigning Player of the Season, would leave the Foxes for a bigger club, with Barcelona reportedly interested.
Now that Mahrez has signed a new deal, that theoretically secures his Leicester future. The Foxes handed him a new contract, with a gigantic pay raise to be sure, to ensure he would stay at the King Power Stadium. But that's only a temporary solution.
Mahrez will stay at Leicester for this season, and why wouldn't he? The Foxes are in the Champions League and thanks to this new contract, Mahrez will be getting paid big wages. Everyone is happy. But what about next summer?
Leicester are a long shot to finish in the top four again or win the Champions League. They probably won't have European soccer to offer Mahrez next season and there will be several clubs who can -- and those clubs could offer him even more money too.
This new contract only assures Mahrez will be a Leicester player for one more season. But the benefit to Leicester goes beyond this season.
Because Mahrez has a new contract that could keep him at Leicester for four years, if the Foxes so wanted, the club will have more leverage when it is time to sell him. They won't be risking losing him on a free so they can demand a much bigger transfer fee than they could have if Mahrez hadn't signed the new contract.
In the end, it's a win for everyone involved. Mahrez gets paid and a shot at the Champions League, while Leicester get to keep their talisman for at least one more season with a bigger payoff awaiting them at the end of it all.
The only loser, if there is one, is Arsenal. After all, of Leicester's big three -- Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and N'Golo Kante -- the Gunners were linked to two of them and both used Arsenal for new deals, with Mahrez and Vardy getting handsome raises to stay with the Foxes. Meanwhile, Chelsea were able to swoop in and pluck Kante despite not even being in the Champions League this season. It's hard to find any sort of bright side in this if you're a Gunner.
For the two sides actually putting pen to paper on the new contract, though, it's all smiles. Another year of Mahrez at Leicester, and then probably a huge check coming the Foxes' way.
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