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It increasingly looks likely that Riyad Mahrez will begin pre-season as a Leicester City player.

Ever since Mahrez publicly stated his desire to leave the club this summer there has speculation he is set for a big money move away, with Arsenal the odds-on favourites to recruit his services.

In the last couple of days the speculation has intensified with reports emanating from Spain suggesting Mahrez had ‘grown tired’ of waiting for Barcelona, his preferred destination, to make their interest known and was instead considering a four-year contract offer from Arsenal.

However, the Mercury understands that so far there has yet to be a bid for the 26-year-old Algerian international.

Mahrez and the rest of the City players who went on international duty at the end of the season will miss the start of pre-season as they have been given additional time off, but Mahrez is expected to return to training at some point over the first two weeks of pre-season. His last match was an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Togo on June 11.

There was speculation last summer that Mahrez was set to leave and he has admitted initially he thought it was time to move on after City’s Premier League title triumph, but agreed to stay for one more season after a conversation with chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

He subsequently signed a new four-year contract with City which saw his wages boosted considerably, and although Arsenal had expressed an interest, they did not make an offer for Mahrez.

(Image: Getty Images)

Neither did any other club as it would have been extremely expensive to convince City to sell a player who had just won the title, was the PFA player of the year and a Ballon d’Or nominee.

At the end of May he issued a statement saying he wanted City to honour that promise from the chairman to be allowed to leave as he felt he had achieved all he could at City, but it would still be a hugely expensive deal because he still has three years of a very lucrative contract to run. It has been suggested City could ask for as much as £50 million.

The fact Mahrez made the unusual decision to go public would suggest he has been told a big offer was imminent, but it has yet to materialise.

It is likely City’s asking price has deterred any offers so far, but as the window progresses and deals start to get done, there is expected to be more interest.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has publicly confirmed his interest and cryptically said: “Have we made a bid for him? No. Not yet. Not yet means it could happen, it could not happen.”

The future of Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez is the subject of speculation and should the Chilean move on from the Emirates then Wenger could make his move for Mahrez as a replacement.

However, at this moment in time Mahrez remains a Leicester City player.