Reliable journalist confirmed Mahrez said he wanted to join Arsenal, after agent held talks with Wenger

Just as it looked like the rumours of Riyad Mahrez coming to Arsenal had died down, today there were a flurry of tweets hinting that he wanted to move to Arsenal despite interested from other sides, namely Chelsea.

There was a claim last month from Eurosport FR that talks were held between Arsene Wenger and Mahrez’s agent, after our friendly match in Lens. Then last week, a report from Le Buteur started doing the rounds which claimed that Mahrez had turned down a new deal (and a new car) to join Arsenal.

Leicester City’s chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and their manager Claudio Ranieri have both said that Mahrez is not for sale at any price, and the rumours seemed to die down. Last night there were further rumours that Mahrez, would be moving to London, but to Chelsea rather than Arsenal, and now today there was yet more speculation that Mahrez wants to join Arsenal, from a EuroSport FR journalist.

It was further reported today, that the Algerian international does not want to disrespect Leicester by going public to try and force a move to Emirates.

The journalists tweets were in French but the translation to English means something along the lines of:

“Therefore [Mahrez’ expressed his wish to sign for Arsenal] but will not force the hand of Leicester, but he has absolutely refused to get into a conflict with the club for whom he has a lot of respect…”

Mahrez is widely regarded as one of hottest European properties at the moment after helping Leicester to win the Premier League at odds of 5000/1, with 17 goals in 37 appearances last season and claiming the PFA Player of the Year Award.

However, these quotes, as always, should be taken with a pinch of salt, as some other reports today suggest Wenger has postponed his search for forward players altogether, and is now putting the focus on a centre back to replace our two injured, senior CBs, Per Mertesacker and Gabriel.

Lui a donc exprimé sa position aux différentes parties (son souhait de signer à Arsenal) mais il ne forcera pas la main de Leicester.

— Le Sphinx (@Ilyesramdani1) August 9, 2016

Mais il se refuse absolument à aller au bras de fer avec un club pour qui il a beaucoup de reconnaissance. (Et qui tient évidemment à lui)

— Le Sphinx (@Ilyesramdani1) August 9, 2016

Riyad Mahrez has told all parties, Leicester City included, that he wants to join Arsenal, according to Eurosport FR’s @Ilyesramdani1.

— Get French Football (@GFFN) August 9, 2016

Published: 9th August 2016 : 17:45pm