Riyad Mahrez to Arsenal: Claudio Ranieri warns winger he could become forgotten man if he leaves Leicester
King Power boss believes he is the man to get best out of Foxes' wantaway star... not Gunners boss Arsene Wenger
LEICESTER boss Claudio Ranieri has warned Riyad Mahrez he could become a forgotten man if he moves to a bigger club.
The Italian believes HE is the man to get the best out of the Algerian winger — tipped as a £43million target for Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
Ranieri says PFA Player of the Year Mahrez, 25, will get more game time with his champions.
The Foxes would make a huge profit on the £400,000 they paid Le Havre for the player but Ranieri is desperate to convince the Algerian to stay.
He said: “Mahrez for us is very important.
“If he goes into another big team, there are so many stars. Why? Stay with us, it’s much better.
“He’s our champion. If he goes to another team, there are so many champions.
"He knows me, I know him very well and I understand when he plays so-so and I can permit to stay on the pitch.
“With another manager, when he plays so-so there are so many other stars - they put him on the bench.
“It's important you give him confidence. But if you put him on the bench he gets down.”
Ranieri wants his stars to commit their futures so they can continue the ‘fairytale' that saw them pull off a shock title win in May.
And he is confident Mahrez will follow Jamie Vardy’s lead and reject a move to the Emirates Stadium.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s International Champions Cup clash with Paris Saint-Germain in Los Angeles, Ranieri added: “I think, I hope he can stay with us because it's important for us and it's important for him.
“We started our fairytale and we want to continue. This is a dream and we continue together.”
But Ranieri admitted he could do nothing about star midfielder N’Golo Kante leaving for Chelsea in a £32million deal earlier this month.
He said: “Both him and France came to us with all the worries, speaking about N'Golo, of achieving success at Euro 2016 with the national team.
“And then of course there was a big team like Chelsea who wanted him, and I said, 'Look, if you stay here with us one year more, you play Champions League, you improve, experience everything, and next season you can go to the big teams.'
"But these words weren't good enough and he wanted to go, and I can wish him all the best."
Meanwhile, the Foxes are set to seal a £5.5m move for Cracovia and Poland winger Bartosz Kapustka, 19.