Mahrez ‘wants to play for a top-six club’

Despite Mahrez issuing a statement of intent to leave at the start of the summer, no bids have come in from Premier League clubs. Roma have had two offers in the region of £30m rejected as they do not meet the clubs valauation of the player but it is understood the Algerian does not want to move abroad.

Shakespeare recently spoke about Mahrez’s situation and said, ‘he wants to play for a top-six club. If we don’t get an offer from a top-six club, he stays. If that offer comes in and it’s not enough, he stays. It is quite clear for me at the moment, he has made that statement but he is our player.’

‘I picked him for 60 minutes, he performed. Is it doing my head in? It’s part and parcel of the transfer window. If you let it, it can affect you. But my job is to make sure the players are focused on every training session and every game.’

Demarai Gray is another player whose Leicester future has been in doubt this summer as he is looking for more playing time. Shakespeare added, ‘his agents came in to have a meeting with the director of football, I wasn’t privy to that. ‘We’ve had conversations, myself and Dimi. It is well documented. We’ve spoken about trying to give him more game time and we are both happy with that.’