Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has advised Riyad Mahrez to stay at the King Power Stadium and follow in the footsteps of Jamie Vardy by rejecting overtures from Arsenal.
25-year-old Mahrez’s impressive performances at Leicester last season won him the PFA Players' Player of the Season award and helped the Foxes win the Premier League for the first time in their history.
The Algerian star scored 17 times and assisted 11 times in the league for Ranieri’s men in blue, who have already offloaded N’Golo Kante to Chelsea for a £32m fee and have tied forward Vardy to a new contract.
Mahrez has been linked with a move to Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, who are said to be interested in signing him after acquiring the services of Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach, Takuma Asano from Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Rob Holding from Bolton.
Ranieri, who has previously managed Chelsea and Juventus as well, has advised Mahrez to stay at the club despite links with Arsenal.
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The Italian was quoted as saying by ITV: "I think Mahrez for us is very important as our light. If he goes in another big team, there are so many lights, so many stars, why?
“Stay with us, it's much better, much better. He's our champion. If he goes in another team, there are so many champions.”
Mahrez joined Leicester from French second division club Le Havre in 2014.
