Happy Birthday to Manchester City’s record-signing Riyad Mahrez. Goodness knows what you buy the man who earns a reported £200,000 a week.
Upon his arrival at the Etihad last summer for a mind-boggling £60 million, the winger who turns 28 today, said that he wasn’t fearful of the competition he’d face after being the star man at Leicester City.
Maybe he’s a bit more jittery in the seven months since that statement.
With the smorgasbord of sizzlingly scintillating talent manager Pep Guardiola has at his disposal, Mahrez has been limited to less than half-an-hour of on-field league action since the start of 2019.
Mahrez has come off the bench twice in the opening months of the New Year and hasn’t started a league game since their last fixture of 2018 against Southampton, a 3-1 win.
Taking into account his wages, that means he has earned a staggering £58,300 for each one of his 24 minutes in the league in 2019; 22 minutes in the latest 6-0 rout, with Chelsea the victims, and a measly two minute cameo against Arsenal.
Furthermore, since he last contributed a goal or an assist for the Cityzens - both coming in a narrow 2-1 win over Watford at the beginning of December - Mahrez has failed to have any goal involvement whatsoever.
Between that date of 4th December and his birthday - 80 days - he has earned a sickening £2.2million without actually doing, or rather being allowed to do, what he was brought to the club to do.
Guardiola has even had to speak out that he is "sad" and "sorry" for his neglect of Mahrez this week.
Granted, the Algerian has featured prominently against Burton Albion and Newport County (11th and 15th in League One and Two, respectively) and even popped up with the goal to help with League Cup and FA Cup progression, but is that really what fans were expecting from their record-signing?
Bon Anniversaire anyway.
