Manchester City News: Manchester City’s top scorer from last season, Riyad Mahrez, is clearly not having the best of his career.
After graduating from the AAS Sarcelles academy, Riyad Mahrez made his professional debut with a club called Quimper. He stayed a season in Quimper and then joined the French club Le Havre.
Mahrez initially played for Le Havre’s reserve team, but over time cemented himself in the main team’s starting eleven. Mahrez then signed for Championship club Leicester City in January 2014. He soon helped Leicester gain promotion to the English Premier League. He then played a pivotal role in Leicester’s fairy tale run in the Premier League.
Mahrez spent four and a half years at Leicester before moving to Manchester City when the Citizens paid a record transfer fee for him. The winger continued his brilliant form and has been one of City’s best players of late.
Manchester City News: Haaland’s arrival affected Mahrez’s form
Mahrez had a brilliant 2021-22 season and was City’s top goalscorer. The Algerian winger scored a staggering 11 Premier League goals for City as the Citizens defended their title. Mahrez also scored 7 goals in City’s Champions League campaign. He overall he scored 24 goals in total.
Meanwhile, Manchester City signed Norwegian striker Erling Haaland at the start of the season after paying Borussia Dortmund his £51m release clause.
Within days, Haaland became the most important part of the City team. The striker has already scored 14 goals in 10 games, including two hat-tricks in the Premier League. His breakneck form has been secured, Guardiola scoring a new system to accommodate the striker.
However, the inclusion of Haaland has some drawbacks for the City team. One of them is the form of Mahrez falling.
Since the arrival of Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez has struggled to make a mark on the team. So far, the winger has made just two starts for City in the Premier League and played 223 minutes in total.
He has yet to score or assist a single goal this season. This barren streak has now increased to 12 games.
After his brilliant performance last season, the winger signed a new contract with Manchester City at the start of the season and will obviously not be sold due to his poor form.
However, sooner or later he will have to meet again and start to have contributions in the game. It may not have to be like goals or assists. But the winger will surely have to bring creativity and get his form back. If he doesn’t, Mahrez will only go down the pecking order.
