He had an excellent season scoring on 17 occasions and making 11 assists – this had led to plenty of speculation about his future and there were rumours he might move but this news will delight the club’s supporters.
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Speaking for the first time since penning a new four-year deal, the Algerian praised the influence of boss Claudio Ranieri in convincing him to remain at the club.
The Algeria global penned a new four-year deal on Wednesday to end transfer speculation having been heavily linked to Arsenal.
The Gunners travel to Premier League champions Leicester City on Saturday, having lost 4-3 at home to Liverpool in their first match of the campaign.
With acquiring Mahrez now out of the question, Arsenal will once again have to shift their attention elsewhere as they will miss out on yet another signing. The 21-year-old is now playing for Germany at the Rio Olympics, and despite interest from Hertha Berlin will be handed a new contract to deter clubs from his homeland.
Leicester captain, Wes Morgan believes its going to be a tough game but said his side’s shock opening-day defeat at Hull was the “reality check” needed at the start of its title defence.
Wenger declined to speculate on Vardy’s reasons for rejecting Arsenal’s approach but said “you have to respect the decisions of people”, and he heaped praise on Mahrez, saying the winger “has been outstanding” for Leicester. It’s normal other managers are looking at Leicester players, there’s no message – we are building and want to stay together.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists that he remains “strong enough” to continue doing things he feels will benefit the club in the long term. One was that Aaron Ramsey came back on to the pitch not exactly the same. Arsenal will need him to get firing if they are to win the Premier League this season.
“If you look at his numbers, certainly he was in the top three in the league past year”.
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“That was exactly what I wanted to do so it’s exactly what I did”.
