Man City new boy Riyad Mahrez reveals he snubbed other rivals to join Pep Guardiola revolution

RIYAD MAHREZ has admitted he rejected interest from other clubs before finally completing his dream move to Manchester City.

It proved to be a lengthy transfer story for Mahrez with the Premier League champions initially missing out on their man in January when former club Leicester refused to budge on their £95million valuation.

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But City kept pursuing their target, eventually landing him for a club-record £60m in July.

Mahrez did not let his head get turned by other clubs either, determined to try and ensure he linked up with Pep Guardiola and his team.

The 27-year-old told “It’s good to have interest from clubs, and my choice was to come to Manchester City.

“City is a big club. A big club with very big players and a big manager. Everything is good here to improve yourself and to win trophies.”

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Algerian winger Mahrez is already into the thick of things with City, making his debut in the International Champions Cup defeat to Borussia Dortmund in Chicago before starting the 2-1 loss to Liverpool in New York.

With 16 of Guardiola’s squad having been given extra time off following their involvement in this summer’s World Cup, Mahrez has an early chance to impress his manager.

He could start in the Community Shield against Chelsea on August 5 and insisted he was relishing the competition for places ahead of the new season.

Mahrez added: “We’ve trained good. We’ve been working very hard. Now we’re on to the last two weeks before the first game, so we need to keep going, working and we will see.

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“I don’t know [what Pep thinks I can add], but if he bought me maybe he thinks this of course. I’m here, I’m part of the team, I’m part of the squad. I’m here to help with my quality and that’s it.

“I think it makes it good because the competition improves the players, improves the squad, improves the team. It can only be good, I think, the competition.”

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