Mahrez signed a contract extension with Leicester in August 2015 and is now earning £35,000-a-week – much less than Arsenal-bound team-mate Jamie Vardy who increased his pay packet to £80,000-a-week after agreeing an improved deal in February.
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The north London club had triggered his £20m ($29m) release clause and are confident of beating Liverpool in securing his signature.
“I don’t say this because he does not have the quality, but because he doesn’t have enough experience at that level to say the whole tournament will depend on Vardy”, Wenger told beIN Sports.
Leicester City midfielder Andy King has played down the transfer talk, saying that even if Vardy and others decide to leave, the team spirit at the King Power stadium will not suffer.
Arsenal’s Premier League title charge faltered in part to a lack of goals last season, with the Gunners’ top scorer, Olivier Giroud, eight goals shy of Vardy’s haul.
The Gunners led the Premier League for a portion of the 2015/16 season but faltered midway through the campaign and eventually finished ten points behind shock winners Leicester City.
Jamie Vardy is likely to be in Roy Hodgson’s plans and is another player who could be wearing an Arsenal shirt next season.
“I don’t think age has anything to do with it. I think it is more so how you play as a team and gel as a team”, added Sturridge. He is ideal for them.
“That is no disrespect to him”.
“Arsenal don’t get the ball forward quickly enough for Jamie Vardy”. They take too long to get the ball forward.
That informal deadline came and went and with England now sharpening their preparations ahead of their opening match against Russian Federation on June 11, Vardy is showing total focus on the task at hand. “I mean Carvalho looked like Beckenbauer”, Merson concluded.
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England begin their Euro 2016 campaign against Russian Federation in Marseille on Saturday.
