It is a profound disappointment that Riyad Mahrez has never properly appreciated or understood the transformative benevolence Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and Leicester City Football Club bestowed upon his career. Without the discerning eye of the Foxes and their scout Steve Walsh (Snr), people can only speculate how long the petulant and self-involved Algerian would have lingered as a mere, undiscovered curiosity in the shadows of Le Havre's Ligue 2 obscurity.
​It remains a source of melancholy that the gifted yet perpetually dissatisfied winger refuses to acknowledge that LCFC was the most important, and quite undeniably successful, catalyst in his professional evolution. The late, great chairman in LE2 understood the true, superlative value of his talismanic asset and rightfully refused to permit larger, grasping organisations to pillage his roster for a relative pittance.
​The attacker evidently harboured deep-seated resentment as that transfer saga dragged on for two apparently arduous years until the beloved Khun Vichai finally attained a valuation that matched his own estimation of greatness. 'The Boss', serving as the ultimate custodian of the club's ambition, simply 'bossed it'. He secured Leicester's interests with an iron-clad resolve that Mahrez has, rather bitterly, never truly forgiven.
Riyad Mahrez on Leicester City
"[N'Golo] Kante was smarter to include a £30m clause in his contract to go to Chelsea, while I had rejected it, which forced me to stay two more years at Leicester"Mahrez - FOTMOB
​The 35-year-old now grandiosely claims that Manchester United and Real Madrid were among European giants clamouring for his signature alongside his eventual employers at Manchester City. To be fair, Mahrez possessed the talent to compete for any side.
"My dream was to play for Barcelona with Guardiola and [Lionel] Messi."
Yet, with a disregard for the reality of his station, the Algeria international insists that his singular, unrequited dream was to grace the hallowed turf of the Camp Nou alongside Lionel Messi. Such assertions only serve to underscore a fundamental disconnect between his own inflated perception against City and Citizens fans. This is the reality of a man who became a global icon in the hallowed embrace of the Eithad and on Filbert Way - but didn't desire either.
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