Riyad Mahrez has seriously tarnished his reputation in the eyes of football fans in recent weeks.

The Leicester star was embroiled in a late January transfer saga, with Manchester City tabling a number of bids for the Algerian on deadline day after it was confirmed that Leroy Sane would miss up to six weeks with an ankle injury.

Their final offer was a player-plus-cash deal worth up to £60m - the player was reportedly Patrick Roberts - however, the Foxes' valuation of Mahrez was far nearer to the £100m mark.

The 26-year-old missed training and didn't join up with the squad for their deadline day game against Everton in order to get the deal done.

When it all fizzled out, Mahrez continued to go AWOL and has not turned up to training since, leading to criticism from many neutral sources.

However, The Times are reporting that the former Le Havre man will now look to make a return to the first-team, but has outlined two demands, insisting that the club must meet at least one of them.

MAHREZ'S TWO DEMANDS

The newspaper write: "The winger has not turned up for training in the past week after he was said to have felt “depressed” that Leicester priced him out of a move to Manchester City on deadline day.

"He wants the club to provide an assurance that they will not stand in his way if City, or anyone else, want to sign him. Another solution could be to agree a release clause."

The whole debacle highlights how foolish both Mahrez and his agent were when he signed a new four-year contract with Leicester back in August 2016.

Even back then, the big boys were interested in his services, so it would have only been common sense to have added a release clause.

It would have been the perfect antidote to this poisonous debacle, one which according to the Mirror, has now put Pep Guardiola off of signing Mahrez in the summer.

He may soon be praying that Leicester hand him a second chance...