Leicester City have fined Riyad Mahrez £240,000 for his two-week absence, while manager Claude Puel has confirmed the winger will miss Saturday’s game at Manchester City.

Mahrez will be punished by Leicester after extending his strike into a second week, with the £80 million-rated star understood to have been spending time in Algeria with family and close friends.

Though Leicester are determined to handle a delicate situation carefully, the hierarchy has decided that Mahrez will be hit in the pocket with a fine of two weeks’ wages. Puel was unable to confirm or deny whether he had either spoken to Mahrez this week or knew of his whereabouts, in a difficult press conference on Thursday.

The Frenchman also declined to offer a date on Mahrez’s anticipated return, but revealed he will not be involved Saturday night against Manchester City, the club who failed to sign him on deadline day.

“I hope Riyad can get his head right and come back with us, to hard work, to see for him the best way is to come back and enjoy his football,” said Puel.

Mahrez has missed three Leicester games since going AWOL credit: Getty Images

“Riyad is a magnificent player, he loves football, he loves his relationship with his friends, his team-mates, he enjoys his football.

“I think he needs to come back to play, to touch the ball. It’s important. I hope he can come back and work hard with the team sooner rather than later. We will see.

“I don’t want to give details about our relation. It is important that remains inside the club and not in the public.”

Mahrez submitted a written transfer request last Tuesday in a bid to force the move, but Leicester demanded a fee of £80 million, which Manchester City refused to pay.

Leicester did propose a deal including attacker Patrick Roberts – who is on a season’s loan at Celtic – but negotiations collapsed as Pep Guardiola was not prepared to sell in January.

Leicester proposed a deal including attacker Patrick Roberts – who is on a season’s loan at Celtic credit: Reuters

Talks between Mahrez, his representatives and Leicester are thought to be ongoing and the club remain hopeful he will return to training next week.

If the 26-year-old is successfully reintegrated, he could return for next Friday’s FA Cup tie at home to Sheffield United, yet some sources are sceptical over the chances of an imminent return.

A Leicester spokesman said: “What we have said about Riyad is that we are working with him and the process through which we are working with him is confidential.”

View more!

It is believed that Mahrez feels Leicester, and director of football Jon Rudkin, reneged on a promise that he could leave if an acceptable offer was received.

But Leicester will point to the fact that Manchester City’s interest only surfaced the day before the transfer window closed, leaving them with little time to source a suitable replacement.

Mahrez will now have missed three Premier League games, against Everton, Swansea City and Manchester City, while he has not trained at Belvoir Drive since a week last Monday.

Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, will hold his pre-match news conference on Friday and is set to be asked again about the club’s failed bid.