Riyad Mahrez has joined Manchester City from Leicester City for a hefty £60m fee, which is a club record for the Citizens.
The 27-year-old Algerian had been expected to moved to the Etihad in January, only for City to get cold feet over Leicester’s fee.
The breakdown of that move led to a dispute with the Foxes which saw Mahrez’s relationship with the club temporarily break down.
Mahrez was one of the star’s of Leicester’s Premier League title success in 2015/16, scoring 17 and assisting 11 goals as the Foxes raced to their fairytale league victory.
On finally putting pen to paper on a five-year deal, Mahrez said:
I am so pleased to have joined City, a side playing great football under Pep Guardiola.
Watching them from afar has been a pleasure. Pep is committed to playing attacking football, which is a perfect for me, and City’s performances last season were outstanding.
They’re redefining the English game and I wanted to be a part of it.
City’s Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain, added:
Riyad is a hugely talented player. He beats defenders and creates space.
Over the past few years, he has established himself as one of the Premier League’s most exciting players.
The £60m City have coughed up for Mahrez beats their previous fee paid for £57m paid to Athletic Bilbao for Aymeric Laporte last season.
A gifted attacker, Mahrez faces a big challenge to secure a regular starting berth for the current Premier League champions.
However, with the Citizens competing on four fronts next season, the winger will get plenty of chances to live up to his sizeable price tag.
As for Leicester, the make a rather impressive profit of more than £59m, having paid just £400,000 for the player from Le Havre in 2014.