Riyad Mahrez’s absence from Leicester City continues.The Algerian winger hasn’t been present at training since his proposed move to Manchester City fell through on deadline day, and he’s now a serious doubt to feature in Saturday’s trip to face the Premier League leaders.Mahrez has received a barrage of criticism from pundits and fans for his recent behaviour, and Ian Wright came down hard on Sky Sports’ The Debate this week.“It’s very unprofessional the way he’s dealing with it,” Wright said.
“It’s blatantly obvious for everyone to see. You can’t just down tools because you don’t get what you want.
“Now the fact is it has disrupted everything for him because he know that he wants to leave Leicester.”

Puel: Riyad is not my preoccupation

Even Claude Puel isn’t wasting time on Mahrez anymore.

“Riyad is not my preoccupation,” the Leicester boss said. “My preoccupation is about my available players and to keep them in a positive attitude and to continue this good work."

Yet Puel understands Mahrez’s importance to his side and work will be done to get the player back on side.

Richard Keys has tweeted about Mahrez and Man City

Richard Keys, though, believes the Foxes can point to Man City for Mahrez going AWOL.

Man City, eager to sign a replacement for the injured Leroy Sane, made a £60 million bid for Mahrez but were unable to meet Leicester’s asking price for the 26-year-old and ended their interest long before the 11pm deadline.

And Keys, a former Sky Sports presenter now working for beIN Sports, took to Twitter on Wednesday to wonder why nobody at the Etihad Stadium is taking responsibility for Mahrez going missing.

“Shouldn’t somebody at Man City be taking some responsibility for this and tell Mahrez to get back himself to work?,” Keys tweeted, with Mahrez’s face on the back page of the Mirror accompanied by the headline: “Have you seen this man?”

Twitter reacts

Now, Man City’s timing was awkward. But to say that they are at fault for Mahrez refusing to turn up for Leicester training is just odd.

Unsurprisingly, fans on Twitter questioned just what Keys was trying to get at.

Amid all the criticism that Mahrez has received, Algeria’s head coach has urged the Premier League winner to return to Leicester training.

"Mahrez currently deserves better than Leicester,” Rabah Madjer told Goal. “But we must not forget that it was Leicester who put him on the right track.

“Me, I advise him to resume training and work hard, even if the transfer has not been resolved.”