Mahrez, Swansea, WBA, Paul Mitchell

TRANSFER TALK

Leicester City are holding out to keep Riyad Mahrez even though he is adamant behind the scenes that he wants to leave and join Arsenal £35-million plus £7.75-million in add-ons.

Reports coming out suggest he is now willing to clash with Leicester and force their hand, whether that means going public with his desire. We'll have to wait and see, or whether it means he refuses to play or stops training. Will he be picked at the weekend, will he nor be mentally in the right state of mind as the phrase goes?

Fellow Algerian, Islam Slimani is trying to force a move from Sporting by refusing to train when the coach refused to discuss letting him leave. Sporting want his full release clause of £25.81-million while Swansea City and WBA have only offered £17.21-million for the goalscorer.

If Daniel Levy proposed that offer you would have Spurs fans shouting cheapskate at him, telling us no other club operates in that way, when, in fact, they all do. It is part of the reason why the anti-Levy cluster have no credibility.

it should be remembered that Riyad Mahrez came from the French second division, he wasn't a name until this season at Leicester City. It further demonstrates it isn't the name you buy or how much you spend on them, it is buying the right players to fit your system. That was the role of paul Mitchell and Rob Mackenzie.

While talking Tottenham, I see some journalist are trying to suggest that the failure to pay Michy Batshuayi £125,000-a-week and pay over £30-million for a backup striker was the last straw for Paul Mitchell. If that were the case then he would have resigned after Chelsea threw money at Batshuayi and Marseille. Mitchell didn't though, so clearly it wasn't the last straw it is being portrayed as.

What they mean is, that as others are reporting that Georges-Kevin N'Koudou and Clinton Njie were the real issue that they can't repeat that, they have to have a different angle, thus something new is invented and peddled. No resignation at the time shows that not to be the case though.

The twin roles of Mitchell and Mackenzie will soon be undertaken by others and we have plenty of capable staff like chief scout Broomfield who Arsene Wenger tried to poach. Mitchell seems to be being built up into something he isn't, he was just a data analyst basically, who you strip everything else away.

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